2007 750mL bottle freshly imported in to the States, drunk all to myself on 9/26/07
Gently-hazed, perfectly bottle conditioned appearance, with a lemon-lime tinted golden body and a large, rocky, white head that shows plentiful lacing.
Wonderfully invigorating and refreshing hops in the nose still leave room to catch the clean, but very aromatic Orval yeast esters. The hops burst all over the nose, some shooting straight up the sinuses in a perky citric fashion (tangerines, mainly), and others supporting the aroma in a more juicy, lush way (peaches, pears, nectarines). Ample bitterness, as well, but it’s not too much, of course. And of course, the malt...It backs the hops well, adding fair amounts of telltale pils malt honey and vanilla notes, but allows itself to be lessened in importance by the aforementioned bitterness and additional peppery hop notes. High strength, very lasting. No flaws, of course.
The flavor dosent disappoint, in the least, with a stronger showing from the malt, leaving some sticky honey and cookie suggestions to be (mostly) dispersed by grassy and fruity hop notes (tangerine, apple, lilac, lemon zest). Very supple malt body, with tight, engaging carbonation. Some light cracker-like malt notes interrupt the softness of the texture, and on the end, some excess honey sweetness seems to build up ever so slightly along with lots of grassiness. Minor, minor complaints and had I not had a near perfect bottle of Taras Boulba the next night, I would have hardly said a word. Still world class, but I prefer the bone-dryness and singular peppery hop character of Taras to this one, which might have a touch of excess hop bitterness on account of its use of American hops.
A side-by-side with Taras is, of course, in order.

Pours a hazy gold into a tulip. Caramel, fruit and pine aromas. Smooth with upfront earthly caramel and Orval yeast. Dry, medium bitter hop finish. Quite nice.

2007-09-14, draught at Plan B, Copenhagen, 8-5-7-3-15=38
Cloudy blond color, wonderful creamy and rocky head. Sweet, floral aroma, a bit fruity. Medium body, some malt flavor, hay, residual sweetness, floral, quite high bitterness. Refreshing.

2007-07-31, draught at Delirium Café, Bruxelles, 8-4-8-5-17=42
Cloudy blond color. The aroma is very flowery, with perfumy citrus fruits too. Not too strong, but the mouthfeel is good, with an excellent flavor of malt, spices and flowers (elderflowers and orange blossom), and a pleasant strong ending bitterness, still with orange zest and flowers. Lovely.

Bottle Deep, black body with a deep brown shine. Rocky, light brown head. Sweetish aroma of liquor, strong malts (coffee, chocolate, liquorice), spices, ... Quite complex and well balanced flavour. Moderately sweet, lightly bitter flavour. Tastes lake a stout, malts and spices perfectly combined. Very well balanced and quite complex flavour. I think this is a brilliant beer.

chiara fresca rinfrescante lievemente acidula poco corpo ed un finale deciso di luppoli americani