Orval Trappist Ale review

Time once again to revisit one of the most popular craft beers of Belgium and look upon the Brasserie d'Orval S.A. to supply me with my next beer review target. Today's beer is the Orval Trappist Ale. Like its cousins over at the Chimay brewery, Orval is an ale made by Trappist monks. Only a handful of breweries in Belgium can wear the Trappist moniker, so you know this beer should be special.

This Orval brew had the honor of being the first beer in my samplings to be sampled from my new Left Hand 'Big Mo' goblet. It was the closest thing to a chalice that I own. Orval comes in a unique shaped bottle and contains 11.2 ounces of Belgian pale ale. A single bottle cost me $5.21 including a 10% discount.

Each bottle of Orval is printed with it's bottling date. In this case, my bottle was filled on February 20, 2008. The sampling date was November 29th, so this brew had been in the bottle for at least 9 months. The label suggests that this beer is best consumed by 2013. But who can really wait that long? Let's open this brew!

This beer pours a cloudy deep golden color with slight red overtones and had a generous white head. It was well carbonated as many Belgians are.

The initial aroma reminded me of flowers and spice and a bit of sour funkiness that Belgian yeast occasionally gives off. The smell reminded me of Avery's Fifteen Anniversary ale.

As for the taste? It's really hard to describe. I got a full mouth feel from this brew and tasted a bit funky like the Avery 15. It was creamy and full of flavor and seemed to be very light and refreshing. I could taste a hint of caramel malt and the slight sweetness from the liquid sugar candy that the monks add after the wort is chilled. The taste is rather unique.

It's made with a lot of pale malt and a small amount of caramel malts and bittered with Hallertau and Styrian Golding hops. It weighs in at 6.9% ABV so it's more than your typical session brew. A full bottle gives you just enough kick to notice.

One thing I noticed is every time I swirled my glass, the beer created a nice little frothy head once again with a nice lacing. Love that effect. It burps well too!

I wasn't sure what to expect of this brew. Surprisingly different at 1st. It took a good 1/3rd of a glass before I really started liking and appreciating it. As the beer warmed it became so much more flavorful and aromatic.

Orval is highly enjoyable. I definitely recommend it to anyone who loves Belgian style brews and who want something a bit different than your banana aroma brew. I'll give this beer a respectable Thumbs Up and hope to try some on tap in Belgium someday.

Related articles:
- Chimay Premiere (blue) review.
- Oud Beersel Kriek Ale review.
- Westmalle Trappist Tripel Ale review.
- Avery The Reverend review.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com
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