Hello Steemians !
You all know the Orval, I knew I had to make a post about it because it’s such a well-known beer, the real question was when. And time has come, I went to the sea with my girlfriend not too long ago and there was a restaurant there where I always come with my parents as a child. I was super excited to take my girlfriend there because the speciality is meat baked with a wooden fire plus an amazing sauce.
Unfortunately it was completely full when we arrived but they suggested us that we take a drink while waiting. That’s what we did and I finally decided to take an Orval !
Description
This is a brown beer with 6.2%,brewed since 1931 and oh boy there is a lot of thing to say about this one ! I’ll start by saying that there is two kind of Orval, the young and the old. The difference between the two is simple, the old one is put at least 6 months in cave while the young is simply a classic Orval.
There is also a legend which comes with this beer and it’s about the logo, you can see that there is a fish carrying a ring. Actually, the Countess Mathilde de Toscane dropped his wedding ring into the well of the city. She immediately prayed God to help her and a fish came out of the well carrying her ring !
Soon after that, she decided to build an Abbey there.
Tasting
Time to taste ! Little reminder here, for this review I tasted the young Orval, I’ll make another post for the old one. The smell was specific to the Orval, it’s indescribable but as soon as you taste an Orval, you will recognize it. This beer is very sparkling and bitter that its main characteristics. It’s also a little sweet, long in mouth and not sour at all. The after taste is long and quite complex. Lastly, there is a special taste that comes before the bitterness of the beer.
Rating
I rate this beer 11/20, it’s way too bitter for me. I gave it a note above 10 because of the specific taste before the bitterness and its fame. However, this is not a beer for me since I’m not friend with bitterness. Don’t forget that it’s a completely subjective note and I’m sure that I’ll offend some people with this review.
That's it for today, I hope you liked this review and be sure to upvote and follow me for more, there will be one post per day !
Don't hesitate to recommend a beer that you'd want me to review !
Check out another Lord of the beer here !
See you one day in Belgium !
Nice post, I mus admit, I don't know the beer, I have never seen one in South Africa, but t looks great, pity it is not to your liking.
you had enjoyed that,
have a nice day..
I will be hunting for a Belgian soon. Maybe I get this one! I like how the friars spend their pass time in abbeys! 😀
Tell me what you'll find ! :D
Excellent write up about the beer. I have not seen this beer in The States. I have tried Chimay which reminds me of this beer in bottle and in the lettering. How does it compare?
Chimay Blue which you probably tried is a brown & sweet beer. Orval has a lighter colour and has a more complex taste with bitterness and some sweet tones.
I choose Orval over Chimay Blue any time, although I like both. Would certainly recommend you to try it. I don't agree with the 11/20 here. But the rating is subjective of course.
I actually wrote about Orval as well last week in my Beautiful Beer Labels series: https://steemit.com/beer/@davenumero6/beautiful-beer-labels-1-orval
Great, I will do some digging to see if I can find Orval anywhere around me.
They are really different, the Chimay Blue is very well balanced I'd say while the Orval has its special taste and quite a lot of bitterness.
I really encourage you to try a lot of different beer you'll be surprised by all the different tastes you can find ! :D
I will do my best! :-) Thanks for the advice.
The beer name is taken from the Orval Abbey region of Belgium, right? It looks delicious
Yes, the town where the abbey is located is called "Villers-devant-Orval". A quiet small town in the hills of the Ardennes and a nice abbey to visit.
Upvoted. I'm going to resteem this now :]
Thank you :D
Nice, I love the look of the bottle!
I haven't tried it before, but grew up on English Bitter and so maybe I will like it.
Will be looking out for it to try!
Cheers
I think you're more prepared for this one than I am :p
Even more reason for me to find it then!
Got one!!
Nice ! How do you like it tell me :D
It's not even in the fridge yet - was planning some Australian beer and some other Belgian beers for posts first - but I will throw it in the fridge now and try it tomorrow
🍺
Leuke posts! Én met de 1000+ soorten bier die ons kleine landje kent verheug ik me alvast op wat nog gaat komen ;)
I have quite a few bottles of Orval in 'the cellar' (which is actually just a cupboard in my storage room, but the storage room is underground in the carpark of my apartment building, so it's sort of like a cave. I find Orval is the best when it's been stored for about 18 months.
Yeah, that's why I called this one "young" because after at least 6months it has a slightly different taste ! :D