Picked up a couple of Orvals the other day for my buddy and me. Didn't get around to drinking my bottle, so here I go. I'm using a Libbey tulip glass.
I first encountered this when I was in charge of all the beer and soda ordering at the student grocery at my university. Beer distributors gave me lists of things I could get, so I bought all sorts of things for personal use. Orval, Altenmunster, Spaten, Guinness, Whitbread, Watney's...kegs, six-packs, growlers...it was pretty neat, given the era.
I would say this is an amber beer. Cloudy or hazy or whatever you prefer to call it. Lots of head. Pretty persistent. Lots of CO2. Tingly bubbles.
The web says it's a brett beer. I have wanted to get familiar with brett. I thought it was in some smelly beers that turned out to be saccharomyces. People say it may smell like leather or a horse. I don't get any aromas or flavors like that here. To me, this beer has a mild and very refined aroma. You have to try to smell it. It's not like some kid with gauge earrings emptied a duffel bag full of Pacific Northwest hops in the fermenter.
It has a lemony kind of sourness. It starts off acidic, and it finishes with a mild bitterness that doesn't taste like hops to me. Is that from the yeast?
It seems extremely balanced to me. There is nothing offensive. I'm not thinking about adjustments they should have made. I can't think of any.
I don't usually like dry beers much, but this one works. It's confusing. It's like it's dry and sweet at the same time. Maybe it's not really dry. Maybe there are some big sugars still in there, along with the acidity.
Web says the ABV is 6.9, which is fairly high, but it drinks like a session beer. I could see some serious errors being made if I turned a keg of this over to people who didn't know how strong it was.
On the one hand, it's beautifully done. On the other, it doesn't have any interesting qualities that stand out. I don't think the monks are trying to make a statement, except to tell us they make this beer really well.
Really nice beer. Hard to imagine anyone finding anything about it to hate.
I first encountered this when I was in charge of all the beer and soda ordering at the student grocery at my university. Beer distributors gave me lists of things I could get, so I bought all sorts of things for personal use. Orval, Altenmunster, Spaten, Guinness, Whitbread, Watney's...kegs, six-packs, growlers...it was pretty neat, given the era.
I would say this is an amber beer. Cloudy or hazy or whatever you prefer to call it. Lots of head. Pretty persistent. Lots of CO2. Tingly bubbles.
The web says it's a brett beer. I have wanted to get familiar with brett. I thought it was in some smelly beers that turned out to be saccharomyces. People say it may smell like leather or a horse. I don't get any aromas or flavors like that here. To me, this beer has a mild and very refined aroma. You have to try to smell it. It's not like some kid with gauge earrings emptied a duffel bag full of Pacific Northwest hops in the fermenter.
It has a lemony kind of sourness. It starts off acidic, and it finishes with a mild bitterness that doesn't taste like hops to me. Is that from the yeast?
It seems extremely balanced to me. There is nothing offensive. I'm not thinking about adjustments they should have made. I can't think of any.
I don't usually like dry beers much, but this one works. It's confusing. It's like it's dry and sweet at the same time. Maybe it's not really dry. Maybe there are some big sugars still in there, along with the acidity.
Web says the ABV is 6.9, which is fairly high, but it drinks like a session beer. I could see some serious errors being made if I turned a keg of this over to people who didn't know how strong it was.
On the one hand, it's beautifully done. On the other, it doesn't have any interesting qualities that stand out. I don't think the monks are trying to make a statement, except to tell us they make this beer really well.
Really nice beer. Hard to imagine anyone finding anything about it to hate.
