Clear medium amber colour, good frothy white head, dissipating slowly, light lacing. Aroma toasted malt, light red fruit, apricot, brettish vinous touch. Taste medium sweet and light bitter, malty, light toffee, red fruit, light brett, bit yeast. Fruity sweetbitter aftertaste, woody and spicy notes, medium body, oily texture, average carbonation. Interesting brew, well-balanced, refreshing, very good.

Bottle @ De Heeren van Liedekercke. Hazy amber with a big and lasting white head. Aroma is sweet, malty, ornage peel and bretty. Flavor is quite sweet and light acidic. Dry and light acidic finish. 180317

Bottle. Very unclear orange color, full sized rough off-white head that lasts for quite a long time. Aroma and flavor are indeed quite similar to Orval. Hard to describe, malts, nicely bitter, brett. Quite firm, fizzy carbonation, decent to medium body. Not bad at all.

Bottled@HBF2016. Hazy goldeny amber colour with a mediumsized white head. Aroma is rye, some grains, mild farmyardy funkiness as well as some citrus. Flavour is quite similar with quite bigtime earthy and spicy notes.

Bottle at HBF2016. Deep hazy orange color, small steady white head. Riped fruits in the nose. Medium-bodied. Grass, fruits, riped fruits. Light tartness. Not much of Orval copy.

Bottle @ Restaurant 3 Fonteinen. Dark amber colour, creamy white foam. Yeasty, brett notes, grapefruit and citrus skin. Bitter and dry, bit thin but easy drinkable. Ok beer.

Huge, lightly cream-coloured head over mossy tinted orangeish beer. Flowery-herbal nose, garden herbs. Herbal, slightly pharmaceutical flavour, but failing in the finish, falling a bit dead. Medium bodied at best, well-carbonated, slick. Not bad, but nothing exciting.

Tasted at De Vlasbloem in Sint-Pauwels, where it was advertized as being comparable to Orval. Stable, thick and creamy, snow white head, colour a hazy, pure amber. Aroma indeed reminds a bit of Orval, but far less complex and much more straightforward, with suggestions of leather, a bit of ’horseblanket funkiness’ (Brett), unripe peach, almond, walnut, biscuit, rose petals, grassy hops and white pepper. Dry fruity onset with medium carbonation, hint of dried citrus peel, light honeyish touch but not becoming sweet, caramelly and toasted malts, very nutty, with a hay- and leather-like Brett presence in the finish as well as grassy and herbal hop bitterness; the nutty malts linger a bit. Like Karikatuur or even Brugse Straffe Hendrik Wild, this is indeed clearly inspired by Orval, the charm of which is - at least to me - defined by the very fact that it is a category by itself among Belgian ales. There are not many attempts to imitate it and I do not regret it. This one, for what it’s worth, is by itself a perfectly tasty beer, but will always suffer from comparison with "the real thing", from which it is still very far removed.

33 cl bottle. Pours hazy orange with a small white head. Aroma is fruity, hoppy. Peachy to grapefruity. Medium dry. Smooth fruity and crisp hoppy into the finish.