Orval (and other Trappist beers)

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jjayzzone

jjayzzone

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Have you tried this trappist beer, brewed in Monk monestaries in Belgium? Try Orval.....although $5 per bottle, i'm pretty sure you will be pleasantly surprised. I find myself buying one per week (liquor store), and I suggest you give it a try.

There are six authentic Trappist beers; Orval, Chimay, Westvleteron, Rochefort, Westmalle, and Achel.

I've tried the Orval and Rochefort-8. I couldn't handle the Rochefort at 9.2% and overwhelming in flavor, but I could see why this is a special beer. The Orval was the best beer that I have ever tasted. I have a bottle of Chimay and Westmalle in the fridge, ready to taste this weekend.

I would love to see people buy these beers and let me know what they think.

http://www.orval.be/an/FS_an.html
 
There are 7 True Trappist Breweries. The other being La Trappe (Koningshoeven). The 6 you listed are in Germany and La Trappe in The Netherlands. Orval too was my introduction to Belgians in general.
Of the trappist breweries, I've had Orval; Westmalle; Rochefort 6, 8 and 10; and Chimay, Red, White and Blue. I've not had La Trappe, Westvleteron, or Achel. The Westvleteron can only bed purchased from the monestary itself and a visitors center across the street from the monastery. Westvleteron makes a Blonde, 8, and 12 and are not labeled besides the necessary legal info on the cap. They're the only trappist brewery to not carry the Trappist logo, unless added by an importer for local laws.
Welcome to the style though. There are several beers labeled as Trappist Style as well that you should look into. Check the generic style of Belgian beers all together. A very unique region of beer for sure.
 
I'm curious, do you know the proper serving temperature for this style of beer? Also, i'd be very thankful for any recommendations you can give me.....and thanks for the correction on the 7th Trappist beer. I have Chimay red ready to try.....

I live in Utah, so beer selection is scarce in grocery stores (3.2% ABV limit). The liquor stores carry a pretty good variety, but it's still fairly limited being that Utah is not a beer haven. There are some outstanding micro-breweries in SLC, though...
 
I'd serve it around 50 degrees. If you want, serve it cooler and note how it changes as it warms up. I'd also suggest getting a goblet if you're into these beers and want them in the proper glass. Orval glasses are pretty.

I'd also buy a few bottles of Orval and set them in a cool dark closet for a couple of years. It ages beautifully, and the brett characteristic comes through well.
 
Funny, Rochefort 8 is one of my favorite beers ever, and so is Orval. Westvleteren blonde is fantastic and I think better than the 12. I think I've had all of the Trappist beers, and I like Westmalle and Rochefort and Westvleteren the most. Not that the others are bad, but those are the ones that stick out to me.
 
I've got bottles of Orval, Chimay Blue, Wesmalle Dubbel and Tripel, Rochefort 10, St. Bernardus Prior 8, ABT 12, Tripel, and Pater 6, Duvel, and a few Ommegang all cellaring right now. I'm going to wait until late summer or fall, at the earliest, to crack any of them open. I'm also thinking about trying to harvest some of the yeast in the bottles when I'm done.
 
My favorite Belgian trappist beer would have to be New Belgium's Fat Tire.



LOL Ok, I'm just messin' with ya. I love Orval. :fro:
 
Managed to get an 18 year old Westvletern 12 in a bar at the weekend. Pretty good still, although not very heavily carbonated (compared to younger ones that I've tried).
 
jjayzzone said:
Have you tried this trappist beer, brewed in Monk monestaries in Belgium?
Click to expand...

Yes I've had every "Trappist" beer, all are great beers. Not everybody will like them all but theres enough diversity that theres sure to be one you would love.



>
Oh and Leffe sucks, barely good enough to wash away cotton-mouth, but then you need something to wash away the dreadfull taste of leffe:D
 
I finally tried a couple; Westemalle and Duvel from bottles and Chimay (white) on tap. I had made my first 3 Tripels last year using the exact same recipe but using these three yeasts. In those, the Chimay yeast was the most 'tame' regarding phenols.

Maybe it's because it was on tap and drank at the bar (other two drank in hotel room) but I liked the Chimay the best by far. It had way less phenols than the other two. The Duvel does have an amazing head.

The bartender also corrected me on the correct pronunciation of Chimay. I was saying Sh-eye-may but she said it was She-may.

:off: Also got a bottle of 2010 Firestone Parabola but I brought it back home and haven't opened it yet.
 
DelftBlue said:
A bit of geographical confusion? There aren't any Trappist breweries in Germany.
Click to expand...

Either that, or the Germans have been silently annexing territory (again)...

I'm rather shocked that this thread went so long before someone noticed this. I would suspect that the poster meant "Belgium"...
 
jpc said:
Either that, or the Germans have been silently annexing territory (again)...

I'm rather shocked that this thread went so long before someone noticed this. I would suspect that the poster meant "Belgium"...
Click to expand...

yeah, that's just a typo. I ignored it because I knew what he was saying, especially with saying 'Belgium' so often in the rest of his post.
 
kjung said:
I'm also thinking about trying to harvest some of the yeast in the bottles when I'm done.
Click to expand...

You're not the only one, buddy. Would be a great starting point for brewing Belgian styles. I had Chimay red yesterday.....tasty, but was pretty flat.
 
kjung said:
I'm also thinking about trying to harvest some of the yeast in the bottles when I'm done.
Click to expand...


I'm pretty sure that harvesting out of these bottles will not do a whole lot of good. I think most Trappist breweries add a second yeast strain at bottling (so even if you had an indentical gran bill and fermentation schedule/temps it would taste different). I would try one of the commercially available strains (From White Labs or Wyeast) first, and then monkey around with harvesting out of bottles if the WLP/Wyeast don't give you the results you want.

Hieronymus' "Brew like a monk" book is very helpful with background information and formulating recipes
 
Gratitous usage of the word Belgium in a post.

I think culturing dregs is okay. If used for the entire fermentation, it may not be exactly the same. However, the bottling strain of yeast is usually substantially different. Such as with Orval. The Brett strain probably won't do anything significant until the beer is bottled anyway. So the result may not be far off.
 
Beernik said:
Gratitous usage of the word Belgium in a post.

I think culturing dregs is okay. If used for the entire fermentation, it may not be exactly the same. However, the bottling strain of yeast is usually substantially different. Such as with Orval. The Brett strain probably won't do anything significant until the beer is bottled anyway. So the result may not be far off.
Click to expand...

eh, that depends. I mean brett will ferment the same as sacch will, and in a competitive environment, brett becomes more attenuative. So really, your results will be different.

I love the Orval yeast (Bastogne platinum strain from White Labs) a lot.
 
Went to my SWMBO's 20 year class reunion over the weekend and was disappointed but not surprised that the beer selection was Bud, Coors Light, Corona and Widmer hefeweizen. I was just happy they had the hefeweizen there so I had SOMETHING to drink. So, I'm walking past the bar about an hour into the shindig and I overhear the bartender talking to someone saying "Belgian? What? No, I don't have anything BELGIAN." I wanted to run over and high-five the guy talking to her.
 
ChshreCat said:
I wanted to run over and high-five the guy talking to her.
Click to expand...

:mug:
A short story:
While in Antwerpen we noticed a local drinking Urthel Hop-It followed by De Ranke XX Bitter, he was talking to a older couple(60s+) and what we could understand it was about hoppy beers.

Well I just happened to have a bottle of HopSlam and my wife says go ahead, so I walk over and ask "So,you like hoppy beers" and hand him the bottle :p

He was thrilled by the offer and we,older couple too spent the next hour talking beer. After many bottles he took us around the city visiting bars before we had to catch the last train back to amsterdam.
:mug:

1 of our best memories from the trip:)
 

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