Orval

Sampled at the Sam Smith tasting at Blacklick Wine and Spirits on 2.5.09. I finally get to see what all the fuss is about. Copper color with a huge off-white head due to bottle conditioning. Sour and yeasty aroma, but the sour is more of a fruit sour than salad dressing sour. Definitely getting some berry and cherry notes. Funky tart and fruity flavor with some alcohol. Everyone knows I don’t care much for the Belgians, but I can recognize when one is well-made. On top of that, I could actually see myself buying this.

Bottle (33cl) Pours hazy orange with a thick, fluffy head. Wonderful perfumy, yeasty aroma with hints of spices and citrus. Sour body with dyamic mouthful of flavors... alcohol, yeast, malt... extremely well balanced potpourri of spices. Outstanding beer with a slightly bitter finish.

Bottle. Hazy golden colour with nice white head. Aroma and flavour of fruit, spice, yeast and hops.

2007 Bottle, served cellar temperature. Aged over a year. This beer is immensely fragrant; a huge aroma hit immediately as I opened the bottle. In the glass, it is golden orange with a one inch, off white head. There is very nice lacing on the glass as I sip it. The aroma is wonderfully rich and densely layered. Cellared, it is denser than a fresh bottle. There is still some of the flowery lightness to the aroma, with lemon, but the grape element is darker with some cherry and sugar like fresh homemade candy cooking on a stove top. The mouthfeel is delicate, a bit oily; the carbonation has died down quite a bit with age. I taste smooth subtle hop bitterness throughout with plenty of floral flavours, tartness, some lemon, orange and zest.

(bottle from tesco’s, Diss) Pours a dark amber with a good white head. Smells yeasty, orange, with a hint of tartness. Brilliant taste, mouth explodes with sweet orange and fruit, candy floss, spices and finishes with a dry, warm whiskylike finish. Hint of tart aswell but I had a fairly young bottling (October 2008) so was mostly clean. Huge and awesome.

12 oz bottle. Pours a reddish-amber color with a full-finger off-white head that disappates quickly. The first thing you notice though is the smell with sugar, yeast, malt, and hops, and possibly some fruit. Tastes of dried fruit (might be raisin?), some sugar, and a light hop presence, with a very smooth mouth-feel afterwards. The taste was slightly disappointing, with such a complex smell I expected more of a full-bodied taste, but it was still quite good.

Nice trappist ale. Great hazy golden color with a really lacy white head. Strong aroma of Belgian yeast, candi sugar, sweet malt, and a little spice. Flavor is more of the same with some fruity flavors, very yeasty. Smooth mouthfeel. Refreshing.

a very pleasent Belgium Trappist beer with a light orange color. I found it somewhat bitter and with a frutty and spicy taste. Not my favorite trappist but still a very very good beer.