Petit Orval

Orange brown. Acidic with notes of hops and flowers. Acidic flavor with notes of radish and mineral water. Thin and and a bit off.

Bottle. Dark orange-amber with small head. Beautiful hoppy-flowery aroma, little soapy. Watery-thinnish body with pleasent bitter-dry finish. Easy drinking and with more flavor/aroma than most beers 1 pct. (or more) stronger.

33 cl Bottle, same bottle as the normal Orval, but no text. Bought in Ølbutikken. Nice floffy head, dark golden in colour, good aroma of flawor. But a extreme bad taste, of water and hops. This beer taste like shit, SORRY..................

Light hazy orange beer with an off white head. Hoppy perfume aroma with an artificial spicy touch. Soapy and perfume flavor.

Bottled. Orange coloured with a white head: Perfumed aroma of spices with hoppy notes. Flavour of spices with notes of hops.

First off, I think I’m overdue for a sincere round of excuses to my tasting partners for drinking this without them. Bierkonig sent it and one the excitement of opening this gorgeous package, I had forgotten Jeppe could likely find that kind of rarity, so looking at the labelless bottle and seeing a 2 digit date-like numbers, I just assumed Jeppe had sent me an 11 yr-old Orval which, as I love the regular stuff deeply, would have made sense. Of course you don’t drink what you think is a very old Orval without a younger one to compare, so I went on. The petit Orval looked pretty much the same as the regular Orval, perhaps a little cloudier somehow and if it’s possible, the head is even more lasting and rocky. Deep lavender smell, very perfumey "dry-styrianned" notes strike up front and beg for a sip. The palate comes off a bit disappointing. First off, the lively Orval mouthfeel is absent, the blending have killed that verve, vim and vigour of the original through a far smaller carbonation that feels a bit oldish and stale. Still an interesting medium body for a less than 4% beer, but it’s no fireworks. Palate is very dry, long, with dusty funky yeast playing around the floral and herbal hop characteristics. Appealing product by itself I imagine, but ultimately, I’d rather have half a real Orval than a Petit Orval.

(Bottle 33 cl) This younger brother to the real Orval is apparently only available in the café next to the abbey - and only aimed at everyday consumption for the monks. Trying this in a tasting with the original this seems to be just a dilluted Orval. All the same wonderful herbal notes are there - only weaker. And expectedly both head and hoppiness are lower. Hence it’s a surprise that the colour is actually a darker amber than the oroginal. Hmm...so much for my dillution theory. Very easy to drink. Yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottle. For all it’s worth, even this weak Orval is still a unique experience. No label. 230105

Pours cloudy amber with a small off white head. Smells of watery fruit. Taste is lacking with some malt present.