BEER REVIEW: 316
BREWER: Brasserie D’Orval, Luxembourg, Belgium
STYLE: Trappist Ale
ABV: 6.2%
VESSEL: 0.33L brown bottle
DATE OF POST: 28th October 2023
SAMMY SAY’S…
Trappist beers are renowned world over. An obvious statement, I know. But a relevant one because Orval is a Trappist beer. Another point that’s well known, but worth emphasising is that there are many worldy Trappist beers available.
But let’s rewind to the beginning of my interaction with Orval…
The packaging is not at all to my taste. It doesn’t tick a traditionalist box neither does it make the grade with a modern vibe. We are left somewhere in between. And it simply doesn’t work. Its bulbous bottle and its poor label are uninspiring to say the least.
On the nose, Orval does not do much. Sure there are hints of herbal botanic notes but it need much more of a punch. It needs something to elevate the potential that is clearly there.
And this theme follows through into the drinking. While Orval is by no stretch of the imagination awful, it’s so lacking in body and flavour that drinking it is almost a non-event. It’s not bad, but it just ain’t great.
To the original point, Orval is a Trappist. If it were a league of beers, Orval would be somewhere in the depths of the semi-pro leagues of Trappist beers, let alone being nowhere near a world league of all comers.
Sammy’s Rating: 52%
JYMI SAY’S…
Oh no, we may have a problem here. Only a slight one but a problem nonetheless.
There has been the odd occasion over the years where a beer has either not lived up to expectation or fallen short of possibly where it should have been due to it being a bad batch or maybe stored badly (prior to reaching the MOB cupboard or fridge may I add).
The first example of this was way back in November 2017 with Wolf Rock by Sharps. Personally, going into the review I thought we were going to be onto a winner. I had had a couple of these in the months before the review and had enjoyed without really thinking about it. However once concentrating and really analysing the brew when under review it fell a bit short and only ended up with MOB rating of 71%. Not bad but way less than I was expecting.
Another example was an English IPA by Three Legs Brewery. The beer wasn’t great by any means. But after some feedback on Twitter we concluded that something had probably gone on with the brew on it’s journey from brewery to MOBHQ, or just a bad batch, who knows.
The trouble is Sammy and I can only go on what we have in front of us and then of course comes personal taste too.
This said, before coming into today’s test of Orval I knew it was a great beer. Don’t get me wrong, it has still scored well but I’m telling you now, something was up with my bottle here.
Alarms instantly started going off in my noggin when the head on the initial pour was massive and just kept. ON. GROWING! This has never happened to me before with a bottle of Orval.
The nose however was fine, great in fact. Lovely notes of a rich sweet caramel.
But the alarm did once again sound once the first sip was taken onboard. The super head carbonation carried over into the mouth resulting in some crazy frothy fizzy mouthfeel. Really strange and again not something that I had experienced from the beer before.
All said this beer still tasted decent enough with a good punch of flavour. Bitter orange leads the way but a welcome caramel sweetness soon follows to counter the bitterness before moving to a bittersweet end.
I may have over scored it today because of previous mega enjoyment, I’m not sure.
It’s good. But usually, it’s way better than that.
Jymi’s Rating: 78%
MUSE ON BOOZE RATING: 65%
MOB review next weekend: QUANTUM LEVEL by CRAFTY BREWING
Sammy & Jymi – Musing on Booze weekly since 2017
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M O B 2023
MUSE ON BOOZE 