Orval brewhouse, where God's will works its wonders and the source of all Orval.
A beer brewed with knowledge is tasted with wisdom. Photo by Charlie Papazian
A tour of the brewery on the second day led us to the beer tasting room where the one and only draft tap handle of Orval in the world exists. Fresh and hoppy as the brewer loves it, we sampled various cheeses made by Orval and the monks at the monastery.
Jean-Marie then pulled an unlabeled bottle of Orval from his secret closet. As he poured it he explained, “This is our Table Beer.” It is sold only locally and only by special request. It’s a low alcohol Orval and refreshingly “light” version of the original. Unlike most modern day Belgian Table beers, Orval’s is brewed in the traditional style without the use of artificial sweeteners. I detest most Belgian table beers due to the cloying artificial sweeteners which are added and designed to appeal to the youthful sweet-tooth. I consider this a crime against future beer drinkers.
An additional day of inquires and drinking revealed a few more Orval wisdoms:
- Orval yeasts will provide a desired 90-100% attenuation over time, producing quite a dry beer.
- Sugar is used as an ingredient and is an important part of the recipe formulation.
- Sugar is used as priming for bottle conditioning.
- The beer is dosed with Brettanomyces yeast at bottling
- An aside conversation: In some lambic breweries Brettanomyces is carefully cultured with oak wood chips in order to provide a sugar source (cellobiase hydrolyzes some wood compounds) which helps maintain health and consistency of performance. But Orval does only a simple propagation and adds a “mini” quantity at bottling
- 50 EBC (about 20 degrees Lovibond) crystal (caramelized) malt and Pilsener-type malt is used in the formulation.
- Original fresh tasting Bittering Units are perceived (by me) to be at about 37-42 BUs
“Why do people want to copy Orval?” asked Jean-Marie. “They should make their own beer and keep it simple like I have.”
Photo right: Brewmaster Jean-Marie Rock pours from the world's only draft dispensed Orval at the brewery's tap room. Photo by Charlie Papazian.
There’s some truth to Brewmaster Rock’s observation. The history, the culture, the complexity, the system, the artful and scientific blend of process, ingredients and wizardry cannot be duplicated. Thus any formulation/clone of Orval becomes a unique beer in and of itself – as life is surely meant it to be.
So there you have it…genius in a bottle. So let’s cut the shuck and jive and get on with a recipe for your own uniquely brewed Golden Valley Epiphany Ale. It will appear in the next post.
Also see:
The special ingredient and God’s will define Belgium’s Orval
My Trappist epiphany with Belgium’s Orval ale
Orval Trappist genius in Belgium’s Golden Valley
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