11.2oz bottle. Hazy orange-tan color, with a massive off-white head. Sweet Brett, hop aroma. I really find different nuances in this beer every time I have it. This bottle is coming off very fruity and funky to me. Lots of underlying wheat flavors. Such a unique mouthfeel. Not quite sour, but very reminiscent of Lambics. Somewhat sandy on the palate, the hops deliver a straightforward bitterness. Incredible depth. Fruity Belgian yeast notes. Wow. An absolute masterpiece of a beer.

11.2 oz bottle into Trappist glass. 2007 bottle. Funky aroma--smells like a sour ale. Brett, anyone? Perfume-like scent comes out after sitting for a bit. Pours yellowish brown with nice creamy lacing and a long-retaining off-white head. Taste is sour and a bit medicinal at first (this goes away fairly quick). Maybe a tad watery; fully carbonated. Nice aftertaste. This is the strangest Trappist I’ve ever had. If one were to personify all the Trappist ales and put them in a line, Orval would be the one with the tattered robe adorned with spiked tassles and a pierced nostril. You just know there’s a mohawk hidden underneath that hood.

330 ml bottle. For me this beer seems to taste different every time I drink it, depending on what I had before, food and general daily form. Therefore I decided there where no point in rating this, its just what it is………. Anyway this is my 2000 rating so I change my mind and will try to put down a few words in celibration. It’s a bit unclear orange body with lots of small bubbles and a thick lasting white head. Aroma is not strong, but very nice. It’s mainly citric fruity with a pleasant funky Bret stamp. Usually I manage to identify citric fruit, sometimes it seems to be more grapefruit and other times oranges. I can smell a delicate hint of spices, maybe coriander of maybe something else, there is yeast and also hints of older hops. Bret is always present, sometimes more acidic than other times, but never very strong acidity. Flavor has a lot in common with aroma, and always feels very refreshing and quaffable. Mild malt, sometimes hint of caramel, fruity like citrus, mild, dry bitterness, spices, refreshing acidity and a soft and balanced finish with bitterness, acid and sweetness in harmony. Pure magic!

330ml bottle
Appearance: Slightly hazy orange/amber with a nice fluffy white head, leaving lacing in the glass
Aroma: Brett, lemons and spices
Taste: Spices and citrus up front and then some sourness and hops in the finish
This is a very nice beer. Enjoyable to drink, crisp and clean.

A copper brown beer with a big and blond head. Aroma is very delicious, lot of bananas, green apples, yeast, spicy and some overcooked fruits. Flavour is complex, sour and almost raw green apples, yeast, sourness, bananas, dry bitterness, spicies nad herbs. The flavour is more balanced and smoothier with yeast and individual nuancees are not so strong. Quite easy to drink with balanced carbonation. Orval is very complex beer with interesting nuancees and challences; classic.

Bottle. Pretty darn solid. I’m still not a huge wild yeast fan, but this is the closest I have come yet. Nose is funky, saddle blanket yeast with some intense earthy notes and mild fruit. Flavor was also funky, light hops, some hints of sour fruit. Light to medium in body and quite dry. I enjoyed this beer more as I made my way through it. (3.9, drank in NYC c. 2009/2010)

Bottle at home in London - picked up from Selfridge’s. Bottled in 2012, best by 2017, drank in 2013. Yeah, damn solid stuff. Not totally taken over by the brett - which I love - so still has a bit of bready sweetness. But it does have a decent dose of funk to it, so I’d say it’s somewhere in the middle between totally sweet and bready and totally funked. Excellent beverage. (4.3)

Bottle at home in London, 13 days before leaving Queens Gardens. Bottled on 15 January 2015. Fairly dry, not too funky, with nice leathery character, some melon, maybe citrus and berries. Lively carbonation that lends the beer a massaging texture. Wonderful juice. (score: 4.4, drank on 18 January 2017)

really nice, but surprising taste from this one. kind of dry-champagne-like flavor, a little rough in the palate, really good, just not what i thought it was going to be like, I was expecting more of a chimay taste, but this was very dry, maybe too carbonated. i enjoyed it, but compared to other belgians, whether actually belgian or belgian style, i probably wont do it again.