Orval

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

pours amber. smells earthy, brett, cellar, musty. Flavor is tart brett funk, citrus, dusty. Very dry. Amazing beer.

A really unique Trappist-beer. Very bitter beer, nice spicyness and a bit sour alá Lambik. This is a beer wich I have never tasted anything similar to. Another one of those "must-try-beers".

Bottle dated Sep 13 2007. Poured into a Chimay goblet (closest thing I have to an Orval goblet). Pumpkin pie color with a light tan head that foams up to two fingers’ height and manages to maintain itself at a solid half centimeter for most of the duration of the beer. Huge chunky lacing. Tart bretty nose, almost like an unblended lambic but not as sour. Some distinct phenolic notes with a touch of golden apple and banana. Sort of somewhere between saison, geuze, and tripel. As it breathes it takes on a more sweet and floral character. Wonderful. Flavor is lightly fruity with unripe pears. Lots of spices, white pepper, orange peel. Funky grassy brett influence. Dry bitter noble hop finish. Body is a bit chalky (I poured the yeast in) and medium in viscosity. Highly carbonated but somehow it isn’t distracting like in some Belgians. Remarkable complexity, so multifarious that I’m afraid I can’t fully describe/appreciate this beer. Phenomenal.

An exceptional, unique beer. The beer pours a beautiful shade of burnt orange-amber, medium, with a slight haze. The head is white and rocky and dissipates at a medium pace. The aroma is exquisite. The sour barnyard funk is just precisely right and blends wonderfully with the underlying Belgian ale notes. One of my favorite aspects of Orval is the perfect dryness. This nature even comes through in the aroma. There are fruit notes, apricots, grapes, lemons, figs, and earthy complexity. The flavor is just wonderful. I’m a bit of a sucker for a dry, delicious beer, and Orval pulls this off this combination better than nearly any other. The flavor is somewhere between a gueuze and a Belgian ale. Orval makes me imagine how good Belgian-style ales must have tasted before modernity imposed sanitary conditions and end of the sour beer as the norm. Orval is a world classic and everyone should try it.

See, those monks, they’re nice fellas. They brew genious in beer. As I opened the bottle, the beer’s aroma flew gently to me, saying almost "you’re gonne love me". The aroma was quite fruity, with damasc, banana and some berries. There was some nice barley malt aroma with it, more wheat aromas and little oat-malt-like aromas as well. The clover that came along was really good, joined with some cinnamon. Hoppy fella, the aroma. This beer looks great: it’s opague dark orange mixes with the clear beige foam gently. And, let me say, what a foam: consistent, perfectly sized and quite regular inspite of being quite fluffy. Into the mouth it came softly, going very swiftly in the whole mouth, filling it quickly with it’s taste. The fruits come nicely, damasc, banana, berries and some might say something of apple. Along with the fruits there was cinnamon, clover, herbs, little wood, faint barley, and faint grainy. Also quite hoppy. The aftertaste is nicely bitter, with wood, damasc and herbs. What a beer!

Bière sans comparaison à aucune. Il faut la boire vieillie en cave de 3 à 5 ans.

Rerate Dec 09 2008. Jesus is this a well balanced beer. Everything you could ever want in a beer all wrapped up. Bret yeast hops malt all wrapped into one picture perfect beer. wow.

Bottle. Almost perfect beer. Pours a great orangey copper with thick frothy head. Amazing craftsmanship. Great beer.