Orval

Brewed by Brasserie dOrval
Style: Belgian Ale
Florenville - Villers-d.-Orval, Belgium

What amazed me about this beer is that is was only very young, but showed amazingly complex aromas and flavours. A scent like God’s own armpit and a vast palate of flavours too numerous to list in one rating. Have purchased a couple for further reviews as they age.

bottle: Poured dark hazy orange with a off white large foamy head that did diminish. Smell was sour and a slight bit fruitiness. Taste was similar to smell with a slight bit of sweetness and a very dry ending, very champaigne like. This was definite not a bad beer at all, but not my favor Belgium ale either.

Bottle. Chef Paul. Dark yellow, rocky head- carbonation is bubbling away. Smell is terrific- light, fruity, pears and apples. First taste is fruit, yeast, crisp biting carbonation, effervescence. Then suddenly- BAM- the stop sign comes up and the intense dryness halts all else- a flavor black hole. Very unique and nice.

Bottle shared by Miguelmandingo. Thanks Mike! Pours a slightly hazy amber color with a short lived head in my snifter, despite being pretty fizzy. Smell is dry, dusty, funky and brett like. Taste is similar with funky dusty yeast being the predominant flavor. Perhaps reaching, I got a touch of fruitiness, but pretty mild, funky dry champagne like flavor, I thought. Light to medium body and fizzy carbonation on this 2 to 3 year old bottle. One I will definitely try again.

Biggest head I’ve ever seen, hazy amber color. Taste is sweet and spicy at first - apples with cinnamon, caramel, and a cereal grain note too. Dry, hoppy finish. Alcohol is slightly appearant in the aroma, but not in the flovor. Lively carbonation with a smooth, medium body. A refreshing beer that’s clean, smooth, and very enjoyable.

Pours a huge and thick foam and has a hazy semi-dark amber colour. Smells of yeast, wood, nuts, apricots. Tastes are about the same and had a stingy bitterness at the end. It also improved the warmer it got (started out a bit to cold). I really liked this one.

Rating #1 (Mar 12, 2009): Fruity, sour aroma of wine, apples and a whole lot else. Complex taste of fruits as oranges, apples and peaches, rich malt, a whole lot of herbs and spices and a hoppy finish. Creamy mouthfeel resulting from the humongous head. Really great and far too complex to explore it in 33cl. 4.6

Rating #2 (May 26, 2009): Younger version than the previous rating, bottled october 2008. Crazy how much this improves within just a few months of age, this is seriously less appealing than the first bottle I had. Still, it is great: Decent animal-hair character and less hay in the aroma than I had in memory. The flavour is less rounded, great spicy hops and crisp bitterness though. 4.2

Rating #3 (Sep 30, 2009): Bottled 06/19/2008. Delicious muscat grape aroma, ripe pears and apples, an evident acidity. A filthy, rain-drenched dog lurks in the background. Looks great. The flavour is pretty sour, very spicy, herbal and medicinal. Surprisingly light unfortunately. Light alcohol presence, thoroughly mouthdrying. It’s great, but not as great as I had in memory. 4.1

I actually was at the Orval trappist brewery when I was 18 yrs old. Don’t remember to much of it, only that I bought six bottles and it was fun to buy from the monks. It should have been now when I really love beer, and esspessially trapist. Apperance; Light amber, hazy with a big head. Aroma; Spicy fruits with a medium bitter ending.