Orval is a very special beer and different from any of the other Trappist ales. It's actually pretty close to an old school (like, 100 years ago) British IPA as it's heavily dry-hopped with German/Slovenian hops and has Brett, like all beer did before modern times. These two characteristics make the beer very different compared to the other Trappist ales. When fresh, it's quite hoppy and bitter and the Brett hasn't yet developed. After a year or so, the Brett start to show and after 2 years the Brett can taking over. 3-5 year old Orval is often lambic-like with a bit more acidity and funk/barnyard. I love it both really fresh and at 2.5-4 years age. Also Trappist is not really a style. Most Trappists make a whole lineup of beers, Orval is the exception as they only make the one beer (well, they also make Vert, a lower ABV version, but it's only available at the Lánge cafe next to the Abbey. It's delicious though!). Typically Trappists make 3-5 different styles: Belgian Strong Dark Ale (some of the stronger versions are marked in English as Quadruple, such as Rochefort 10 vs 8, but really a separate style doesn't exists, they are just all varying strength of a BSDA, Dubbel (usually dark around 8%), Triple (blond 9%), Belgian Strong Pale Ale (usually just a strong triple), pale/blond ale, and Patersbier (table beer, usually under 5%, one of my favorites). Do you know the date of your bottle? I'd highly recommend trying an aged bottle and fresh bottle (might be a bit difficult finding a bottle under 5 or 6 months old outside of Belgium?). Also the head on Orval is pretty iconic. Fresh it's usually not that epic, but with some age, you can get crazy big, dense, foam that continues to grow out of the glass. Hands down my favorite Trappist and one of my favorite Belgian beers in general.
That is some stunning knowledge there Kyle! Thank you for sharing. This bottle wasn't all that old - I can't remember exactly but I'm 99% certain is was in the later half of 2022 so likely sub 6 months. The bret certainly hadn't made much of an appearance by the time I drank it which is probably what led to it feeling a touch tame. I'll grab another bottle and age it as you suggest to see what happens. I probably didn't make it clear enough in the video but after mentioning Trappist as a "style" I did speculate as to wether we should be as of course it's merely a representation of its production and not an intrinsic style as such, but many Trappist beers do follow a similar course so it's down to interpretation at that point - a bit like saying Islay whisky has a style - which it does - but not all Islay whiskies follow that styles - the joy of semantics 😆 Thanks again for this input - I'll be sure to refer back to it when it comes to revisiting Orval as I learnt much more from your comment than during a not insignificant amount of research. Cheers!
@@TheCrumbyBeard The Islay analog is very apt! Trappist beers do have an expectation/notoriety for their yeast-driven character and usually strong and sweet, with obviously some exceptions like Orval and the table beers. Very much like how Islay is known for the heavily peated whisky, there are distinct 'style' differences like a 'sweet peat' sherry cask from Kilchomen, the smooth but ashy Lagavulin 16, the brash all ex-bourbon's like Ardbeg 10, and exceptions of beautiful un-peated bottles from Bruichladdich and Bunnahabhain. I'm a pretty big Islay fan (I made my first trip there last summer, it was amazing!) so it's really is an on-point analog :)
@@kylelegg6837 as it just so happens I’m a big whisky fan but have always struggled with very heavy peat, and as a result feel like I miss out on their specialties. And it’s a very apt analogue since I have a bottle of the unpeated Bruichladdich arriving tomorrow 😆
@@TheCrumbyBeardI think it is only three beers that come close to the original English pale ales Orval,Worthington White Shield and Rye River Retro IPA.
It was a while ago now but I’m pretty confident I reviewed it a week or two after delivery, kept in the fridge and had several years left on the best before. Very odd!
Just grabbed one of these ( coming to you from San Diego, CA. It was the first Trippel, my " gateway " into Belgiums. My thoughts is that you may have rushed a bit to judgement after two sips?! Well, thanks for reviewing it, nice video. I'll be revisiting it in a few days. Cheers!
Thanks for dropping in! I totally get where you're coming from re: the two sips thing but my videos are heavily edited because I take my time over the beer to make sure I get all of the differences as you go through the glass and generally just documenting how it comes across at each point. I've also experienced a lot of Belgian beers so there's always that knee-jerk reaction when anything isn't quite what you'd expect. How did you get on with it? Cheers!
@@TheCrumbyBeard Hi, it's still chilling in my fridge! It was my very first Belgium. I went from Belgium to SoCal IPAs [Stone Brewing etc., super hoppy dank] to now Sours! I can't believe I like sours. Have you ever enjoyed Urthel Beers? I bet you have. OMG what I wouldn't do for the Urthel Hibernus Quentum Tripel Ale!!!! As a good friend once said, "it's like food". Cheers, and hey, your beard isn't so Crumby! ; ]
@@SorrentoShore haha, crumbs often end up in the beard mind! I’ll be honest we don’t get too many US beers in the UK, especially some smaller breweries so I haven’t had the pleasure yet! But I’ll be sure to keep an eye out. Let us know how you get on with the Orval! Cheers!
What nonsense, it is simply the best beer, full of surprising flavors, it makes you cry when the glass is empty. A Trappist beer to enjoy in the summer
![Trappist Beers: Dubbel vs Tripel vs Quadrupel [What’s the difference?]](/img/n.gif)
Simply the best beer in the world, that's ORVAL 😋😋😋
Not a bad choice for sure!
Orval is a very special beer and different from any of the other Trappist ales. It's actually pretty close to an old school (like, 100 years ago) British IPA as it's heavily dry-hopped with German/Slovenian hops and has Brett, like all beer did before modern times. These two characteristics make the beer very different compared to the other Trappist ales. When fresh, it's quite hoppy and bitter and the Brett hasn't yet developed. After a year or so, the Brett start to show and after 2 years the Brett can taking over. 3-5 year old Orval is often lambic-like with a bit more acidity and funk/barnyard. I love it both really fresh and at 2.5-4 years age.
Also Trappist is not really a style. Most Trappists make a whole lineup of beers, Orval is the exception as they only make the one beer (well, they also make Vert, a lower ABV version, but it's only available at the Lánge cafe next to the Abbey. It's delicious though!). Typically Trappists make 3-5 different styles: Belgian Strong Dark Ale (some of the stronger versions are marked in English as Quadruple, such as Rochefort 10 vs 8, but really a separate style doesn't exists, they are just all varying strength of a BSDA, Dubbel (usually dark around 8%), Triple (blond 9%), Belgian Strong Pale Ale (usually just a strong triple), pale/blond ale, and Patersbier (table beer, usually under 5%, one of my favorites).
Do you know the date of your bottle? I'd highly recommend trying an aged bottle and fresh bottle (might be a bit difficult finding a bottle under 5 or 6 months old outside of Belgium?). Also the head on Orval is pretty iconic. Fresh it's usually not that epic, but with some age, you can get crazy big, dense, foam that continues to grow out of the glass. Hands down my favorite Trappist and one of my favorite Belgian beers in general.
That is some stunning knowledge there Kyle! Thank you for sharing. This bottle wasn't all that old - I can't remember exactly but I'm 99% certain is was in the later half of 2022 so likely sub 6 months. The bret certainly hadn't made much of an appearance by the time I drank it which is probably what led to it feeling a touch tame.
I'll grab another bottle and age it as you suggest to see what happens. I probably didn't make it clear enough in the video but after mentioning Trappist as a "style" I did speculate as to wether we should be as of course it's merely a representation of its production and not an intrinsic style as such, but many Trappist beers do follow a similar course so it's down to interpretation at that point - a bit like saying Islay whisky has a style - which it does - but not all Islay whiskies follow that styles - the joy of semantics 😆
Thanks again for this input - I'll be sure to refer back to it when it comes to revisiting Orval as I learnt much more from your comment than during a not insignificant amount of research. Cheers!
@@TheCrumbyBeard The Islay analog is very apt! Trappist beers do have an expectation/notoriety for their yeast-driven character and usually strong and sweet, with obviously some exceptions like Orval and the table beers. Very much like how Islay is known for the heavily peated whisky, there are distinct 'style' differences like a 'sweet peat' sherry cask from Kilchomen, the smooth but ashy Lagavulin 16, the brash all ex-bourbon's like Ardbeg 10, and exceptions of beautiful un-peated bottles from Bruichladdich and Bunnahabhain. I'm a pretty big Islay fan (I made my first trip there last summer, it was amazing!) so it's really is an on-point analog :)
@@kylelegg6837 as it just so happens I’m a big whisky fan but have always struggled with very heavy peat, and as a result feel like I miss out on their specialties. And it’s a very apt analogue since I have a bottle of the unpeated Bruichladdich arriving tomorrow 😆
@@TheCrumbyBeardI think it is only three beers that come close to the original English pale ales Orval,Worthington White Shield and Rye River Retro IPA.
It's about time for me to revisit this classic.
Nice one. I loved this beer 😋👍
Nice review of the beer 👍 currently drinking Belgian Dubble 6.5% & love it . Cheers 🍻
Nice one! Cheers!
I'm curious what the condition/age was of that bottle, since Orval seems to usually pour a huge head without effort.
It was a while ago now but I’m pretty confident I reviewed it a week or two after delivery, kept in the fridge and had several years left on the best before. Very odd!
Just grabbed one of these ( coming to you from San Diego, CA. It was the first Trippel, my " gateway " into Belgiums.
My thoughts is that you may have rushed a bit to judgement after two sips?!
Well, thanks for reviewing it, nice video. I'll be revisiting it in a few days.
Cheers!
Thanks for dropping in! I totally get where you're coming from re: the two sips thing but my videos are heavily edited because I take my time over the beer to make sure I get all of the differences as you go through the glass and generally just documenting how it comes across at each point. I've also experienced a lot of Belgian beers so there's always that knee-jerk reaction when anything isn't quite what you'd expect. How did you get on with it? Cheers!
@@TheCrumbyBeard Hi, it's still chilling in my fridge! It was my very first Belgium. I went from Belgium to SoCal IPAs [Stone Brewing etc., super hoppy dank] to now Sours! I can't believe I like sours. Have you ever enjoyed Urthel Beers? I bet you have. OMG what I wouldn't do for the Urthel Hibernus Quentum Tripel Ale!!!! As a good friend once said, "it's like food". Cheers, and hey, your beard isn't so Crumby! ; ]
@@SorrentoShore haha, crumbs often end up in the beard mind! I’ll be honest we don’t get too many US beers in the UK, especially some smaller breweries so I haven’t had the pleasure yet! But I’ll be sure to keep an eye out. Let us know how you get on with the Orval! Cheers!
The Orval beats dead too fast in the glass that is used. The fizzyness and mouth feel is inseparable from the true expierence.
What nonsense, it is simply the best beer, full of surprising flavors, it makes you cry when the glass is empty.
A Trappist beer to enjoy in the summer