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Trappist Rochefort - Mystery Finally Solved!

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Written by: Trappist

Category: Belgian Beer

Created: 17 September 2023

Last Updated: 17 September 2023

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Hi,
A Rochefort 10 was tasted at home yesterday.
Wow, what a great beer and most probably still the best beer in the word (IMHO).
For me, personally, it was a historic tasting  
I tell you why ....





Looking at the back label, I noticed a change in ingredients!





Actually, after some research, I found that there is a gradual change in the list of ingredients the last 5 years something.
Although, there is no different recipe!!!! That beer still tastes exactly the same as before, for decades...
The pictures here above do show that gradual changes....
The second last picture shows the label that's been used for decades.
It clearly says 'non malted cereals', which was already a mystery to many beer lovers.
But see, the last picture with best before date of 21.08.2023 (brewed in 2018) mentions 'wheat starch' which explains the non malted cereals  

I was extremely surprised that today there is the mentioning of "SPICES" !!

I found one back label on the internet exactly showing the one I had last yesterday.
It had a best before of 23.08.2027 (brewed in 2022)
So, it's really a very recent thing.
More surprised I was that the monks eliminated the ingredient "wheat starch"  

I always was nearly convinced that the spice coriander is used in all Rochefort beers, even way before Rochefort Triple was introduced.
But many people believed (even brewmaster Johan Brandt from Smisje) that the spice flavor could come from the yeast profile.
I can remember me an old article published on the internet - way back in time - from an American beer lover visiting the brewery where he mentioned coriander.
But officially the monks always denied this info to be correct!       (secret of recipe)

The thing is that it's always been a mystery to me if I really taste that coriander, or was it really that yeast profile.
Yesterday, that mystery was solved in one glance on that back label !!
And note that all dark Rocheforts have the same recipe! This means coriander in the 6 and 8 as well.

WAUW !!!!!

Cheers,
Filip