Orval

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

Dark medium orange haze....yeast,marshmellow,strange banannas,wine,honey smell...pours with nice head...bitter! shocking first sip...damn delicous!!! has a nice bullseye of bubbbles...like a toned down flem...clean and crisp yet sweet and sour..i really liked it....really different and unique!


rerate about 1 month later..4 fun of course......great head as usual...and same ole smell...wow, this batch is pretty damn bitter, and kinda sour...a nice honey sweey equal backbone...still top quality!!...very tasty but man, this is a a sour batch, real bitter too but not like an ipa bitter..just ...ya....as always has that beutiful full mouth dancing-on-tongue fizziness..the perfect definition of "theres a party in my mouth and everyones invited" kind of a thing...real mellow delicous finish....hey,even nate dog liked this puppy, but ms.coop’s eyes bulged out when she took a sip, its a powerful drink, yes sir! scores re-averaged...

may18 2009.. wow,i love this brew.. bottled dated mid 2008... ..aroma is wonderful, dry bretty aromas... very clean, smooth, intensily complex... this Brett guy is my BFF!!! scores changed accordingly!


one of the worlds most well made and enjoyably different brews!!

33cl bottle from Waitrose, 6.2% Cloudy chestnut with a thick cream head; estery aromas of peach and other tropical fruits; sour and fruity at first then developing a dry and spicy finish; warming. One to sip slowly.

Rerate 11-18-07: Wow how my tastes have changed. This time I loved the sour, the funk and the subtlties. Bottle, poured beautiful honey color with a large foamy white head. Aroma is sour fruits - apple,orange and grapefruit. But okay, I guess that I’m just not there yet, not sophisticated enough in taste. To me this tasted really bad - sour and bitter with a lingering tart aftertaste. Medium body and good carbonation. Nice elements, but overall not my taste.

Wow. This has an intoxicating aroma which is wonderful. Picking out some orange, what reminds me of blackberry brandy and maybe a little wet leather. Plenty of hops and herbs. Huge dense head which reduces to a thin foam. Head lasts the duration with great carbonation. Medium/dark orange/amber color. Flavor is quite complex with notes of blackberry, some malt and a bit of hops amongst a plethora of other flavors. Very crisp and dry with plenty of spices and herbs in there. FInish is slightly bitter and dry. A long finish which ends with a smooth creamy feeling in the mouth. A great beer thats only down side is that it is not available in 750ml bottles. AHHHHHHH!

Bottled 24/06/2005. Pours bright murky orange into a trappist glass. Significant medium-sized head that does not recede. Crushed vitamin C and orange notes. Smells almost like a medicine. Lively, dry and sour with a lingering bitter finish. I must say that I prefer a fresher Orval to a cellared one. Almost a cross between a saison and a gueuze.

Young beer bottled on 27/01/05, orange-amber hue, with a big frothy white head, with yeasty, piney, leafy, floral hops, even note of cedary and maybe a minty aroma also, on a medium-bodied dry palate with a yeasty, leafy,a very dry bittering hops, piney, leading towards a deep hop bitterness and a quite dry finish. One of a kind of beer, with his unique goût d’orval!

Update: What an outstanding aroma and great tastefull bitterness this beer has. Yum! Original: I loved it. I’m not familiar with the style, and the last time I had an Orval was 15 years ago (!), but I like the dryness, the hoppier character. The aroma was just a hair on the acceptable side of floral, yeasty, and I had a great experience. Now back to lecture preparation for tomorrow! 2009!! Wow, I’ve had this beer a lot recently. In fact, I am having a perfect Orval experience right now, with a 15 month old bottle. The body conditioning so wonderfully lively, not over the top, and the brett is so perfectly sharp and clear yet natural and not overpowering. Very peachy aroma. This is occasionally a 5.0 beer.

Bottle. Pours orange with a white and nice lacing. Aroma of yeast, banana, and clove. Flavor has belgian yeast and citrus lemon notes, complimented by the malt. Texture is fizzy on the tongue. Finish is dry and hoppy, without being cloying. Very refreshing. I could drink more than one in a sitting. This definitely has its unique characteristics for the style, and is not for everyone. However, I can honestly say I was expecting this to be a lot better based on the rating.