Tre Fontane's collab with Spencer, in the form of the first Sinergia, was the first collab between trappist breweries ever and was quite successful from what I heard (and not a bad beer either) - so now the Italian monks took it one step further and created this new and totally different Sinergia version in collaboration with, wait for it, Westmalle and Rochefort, two of the most 'steadfast' trappist breweries of them all in terms of beer selection. Neither of them has ever done a collab with any other brewery before so this is something I just had to taste, considering the historical importance of the Belgian trappists in not just Belgian beer history, but my own history as a beer taster as well. Bottle bought online from Drankgigant. Quite thick and frothy, plaster-lacing, densely moussy, pale greyish-tinged off-white, stable head on an initally crystal clear, deep caramel brown beer with vermillion red hue, turning misty with sediment. Already upon removing the crown cap, scents of both Westmalle's and Rochefort's yeast character reached my nostrils - and upon closer inspection, this beer indeed smells as if Westmalle Dubbel and Rochefort 8 were blended in one bottle, with impressions of caramel, freshly baked brown bread, Pumpernickel bread, dried prunes, clove, ripe banana, nutmeg, hints of jute, muesli, old hazelnuts, 'kramiek', dried fig, apple peel. Fruity onset, sweetish with a dash of dark sugars but subtly so and certainly not cloying anywhere, banana, fig and prune aspects, some raisin perhaps but without the sweetness, medium carbonation with slight minerally effects, smooth and supple, slick body; 'full' caramelly and dark-bready maltiness with a slight bubblegummy edge to it but an old-hazelnutty core as well, developing some spicy phenols (clove, nutmeg) and a slight toastiness, blending with a leafy, medium long but confident, earthy hop bitterness that bitters and dries the tail, though this dark, dry maltiness gets the last word. The taste meets the nose completely here: this tastes like an archetypical dubbel in spite of it being created this year, for the sole reason that there is not much Tre Fontane character to be found (if such a thing already exists in the first place); the virtual 'inventors' of the dubbel style take over completely here and like I said, this does indeed taste like something holding the mathematical middle between Westmalle Dubbel and Rochefort 8, with the 'heavy' personalities of both classic beers being equally present. Well, I guess if you are a very small brewery wanting to call in the help of the greats, it sure helps if your brewery happens to be situated in a trappist monastery... This unexpected surprise makes me wonder if this Sinergia idea will be continued in the future, there are still enough trappist breweries left to collaborate with these days. Surprising indeed, with all the characteristics of a dubbel - an instant classic, as it were.

0,33 bottle at the brewery at the eve of its release. Dark brown cloudy pour with a creamy off-white cap. Nose: dried fruit, raisins, prunes, toffee, hints of coffee beans. Mouth: reminds a WM dubbel, the roast is evident as much as the feel of dried prunes. As WM dubbel bitterness is present and quite balanced. Tasty

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