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Orval

Orval - Belgian Ale

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 Percentile 
99
overall
Brewed by Brasserie dOrval
Style: Belgian Ale

Florenville - Villers-d.-Orval, Belgium

bottled
common

on tap
available

Broad Distribution
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 Ratings  Average  Score  ABV  Style Pctl  Serve in 
22083.92/5.03.91/5.06.2%100Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler
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Commercial Description:
In contrast to all the others, the Orval Trappist brewery makes only one beer for the general public. It has an intensely aromatic and dry character. Between the first and second fermentations there is also an additional dry-hopping process. Through this the beer acquires its pronounced hoppy aroma and extra dry taste.
Bottled at 5.2% abv - can go up as high as 7.2%
 Most Recent Top Raters Highest Ratings Who's Rated This?  
 Davros (202), Australia
3.7 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/57/104/514/20
Oct 5, 2009  
Pours orange with a ridiculously large head. Lots of great lacing! Big brett aroma of lemon, orange, elderberry, apple and musty horse-blanket. More like a lambic. First up upon tasting is sweet caramel malt, with some faint tart orange tang before a pithy bitterness cuts through. Hints of banana in there somewhere. Good light body with a refreshing carbonation.


Finwe (56), Grankulla, Finland
4.2 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/104/58/104/517/20
Oct 4, 2009  
330 ml bottle at Kuikka. Pours reddish-golden with a white fine head. Fruity fresh aroma has notes of hops and some sourness. A complex taste of hops and fruit. Balanced dry aftertaste. Delightful to drink.


 floydian1 (257), FNQ, Australia
4.7 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/104/510/105/519/20
Sep 30, 2009  
330ml bottle (approx 6.2% ABV) into signature Trappist glass. Make sure you serve it at the right temperature. Pours hazy gold-bronze with a large rocky off white head that slowly dissipates to leave a thin collar of foam that lingers to the end of the glass providing excellent lacing. There is a lot going on in the nose with Brettanomyces yeasts, bitter oranges, earthy peppery spices and floral hops. The complex taste is subtle geuze-like sour at first but becomes sweeter on the mid palate (with a trace of oranges) and finishes with a wonderful lingering dry earthy piney hop bitterness. It is light-medium bodied with a perfect carbonation and a smooth mouthfeel that could almost be sessionable. This is easily the most idiosyncratic Belgian Trappist beer out there and I love it! I shall definitely be reserving a few of these for cellaring as it will only get better.


planky84 (99), , Greater London, England
4.1 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/104/517/20
Sep 28, 2009  
Bottle from Theatre of WIne, Greenwich. Pours a hazy amber with a soft, white head. Aromas of citrus, ginger, cinnamon, lemon zest. Plenty of carbonation. Flavours of lemons, tangerines, black pepper, orange peel. Nice bitter, yeasty, zesty finish. An old friend.


 monkeychugg55 (214), Joliet, Illinois, USA
3.6 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/104/57/104/514/20
Sep 27, 2009  
Pours a hazy ruby-orange copper with an incredibly soapy and rocky white head. The aroma is fruity, floral, spicy, sour, and dirty. Similar flavor, but soapy and bitter as well. Has a foamy light mouthfeel and a very dry finish. Different, but interesting. Bottled 9/23/08


 probstk (1007), Nepean, Ontario, Canada
3.8 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/103/58/103/516/20
Sep 26, 2009  
330 ml bottle from LCBO, served at cellar temperature in a tulip glass. Tasted often before actually rating it.

App.: Cloudy amber with a large, loose off-white froth. Aroma: Strong sour cherries, wood, tang, funk and fruit, ginger, spicy, peppery, herbaceous, some light caramel, some citrus, bitter greens, yeast, very complex and thoroughly enjoyable. Palate: Medium body and fairly full but rounded effervescence. Flav.: Still plenty of sour cherries, quite fruity, more malt than the nose with some caramel and toffee notes, the funk-type notes are gone, the ginger is still there with other spiciness, woody and peppery, a touch of yeast; dry with some bitterness and a little alcohol, some malt to finish.

Quite the brew. Complex and always enjoyable. A triumph of Trappist brewing.


 chmurarz (401), Raciborz now Legnica, Poland
3.9 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/104/58/105/515/20
Sep 24, 2009  
pours hazy tea amber colour, aroma is flavourised hops, oriental spices and strong yeast, sour plum and champagne. Taste - strong spices, ginger, orange skin, bitterness at finish, maybe it is the suggestion of the logo (with fish in the backgroud), but I can feel some saltiness.Pepperness, dryness, taste is evolving throughout drinking the glass down. Does not seem son dry and bitter at the end. I did not read anything about this beer before, not to expect any particular reception. I liked this moment. Rather sour/bitter hoppy trappist. Interesting


JackfromJax (17), Florida, USA
4.1 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/103/518/20
Sep 21, 2009  
Classic example! Pours medium gold to copper with significantly large head. There is a slight noble spicy bitterness that offsets the residual sweetness. The finish is super dry from the bottle re-fermentation / Brettanomyces addition. Pleasantly sour finish and just a slight barnyard. A superb beverage!



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