Tonight I will be reviewing one of the 2 Dutch Trappists, the Zundert 8.
By Rebexho - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36905566
The two Dutch Trappist Breweries are La Trappe, who have many different beers, and than there is Zundert.
Zundert started brewing beer about 7 years ago, and had one beer, at that time known as the Zundert Trappist.
2 years ago they launched a second one: the ZUndert 10. In order to avoid confusion, the first beer was renamed Zundert 8.
I will tonight be tasting the ZUndert 8.
Disclaimer: Like I already indicated in the title: the bottle I will be tasting is 15 months past it's best before date, meaning that the description below should in no way be taken as an indication of the regular beer when you get it fresh.
The bottle was stored all this time, in an upright position, in a dark cellar, at a constant temperature of around 11°C. It was tasted at a temperature of about 11°C (fresh from the cellar)
Some beers age well, and I have drank beers which were over 20 years old. I was curious what this would be.
First comes the pouring: The bottle did not overfoam at opening (sometimes an issue with aged beers), it also still produced a nice head of foam.
In the glass, the beer retained it's dark reddish colour, there are no yeast flakes present.
(Yeast flakes are not an issue, they are not unhealthy, have no impact on flavour or mouthfeel, some people just find them "unesthetic")
The aroma is still fresh, and typical of the Zundert 8 when fresh: definitely honey, some malts (probably caramel malts,...)
The flavour clearly contain elements of aged beer. The onset is quite like a regular beer, although there is a "barrel aged" quality to it (even though it had not been in contact with wood).. Than comes a rising tide of an almost oily bitterness, which reaches it's peak when the beer is swallowed, and than remains in the throat for some time. In the aftertaste, there is breadcrust, there is some candi sugar, on the lips there is a stickiness.
If you are not into aged beers, drink this beer when it's fresh, it's what the brewers intended. However.
If you are into aged beers, this, at 15 months past, is an interesting drink. It holds the middle between the fresh beer, and a truly aged one. There are no indications that it will not keep on aging well. There is nothing like wet cardboard or paper in the scent or flavour,...
I am glad to say that I have a few more of these bottles, and I intend to keep the other ones for at least another year, and than see what happened to them. I feel there is great potential in this, who knows whether it will come true?