A chemometric challenge was posed at the annual ‘Chimiométrie’ congress organized by the French Chemometrics Society in 2010. The congress was held in Paris on 2–3 December and the data relating to the challenge are available on the congress website (http://www.chimiometrie.fr/chemom2010). The aim of the challenge was to test the ability of congress participants to discriminate Trappist Rochefort 8° beer (one of seven authentic Trappist beers in the world) from other Trappist beers, as well as other special beers. All the beers were measured using three vibrational spectroscopic techniques (NIR, MIR and Raman). Three participants took up the challenge and, as in previous congress challenges, the organizing committee asked them to describe their approaches to face the challenge. This paper summarizes the three approaches put forward by participants, as well as the approach put forward by the organizers.