Trappist monastery of Orval in the Villers-Devant Golden Valley is well known
to beer lovers for the famed Orval beer. All photos Charlie Papazian
Orval - I never understood why I couldn’t form an opinion about this world class Trappist Ale brewed at the Orval Abbey in Belgium’s Villers-Devant Golden Valley. Every time I drank a bottle it was different. Inconsistency is usually a term reserved for lack of quality control. Yet this beer enjoyed a mystique celebrated by beer enthusiasts everywhere and continued to engage my curiosity since I first tried it in 1977
It wasn’t until I visited the Golden Valley and its brewer nearly 30 years after I first tried Orval that I experienced the epiphany of one of the most genius of ales – Orval or translated into English, Golden Valley.
My two days with the grinning Orval brewmaster Jean-Marie Rock involved copious amounts of good ale – mostly Orval of various ages. On the occasion of our first dinner together we were joined by Belgian brewer-consultant Roger Mussche .
With great deliberation Roger asked the bartender for an Orval that was at least one year old, but the best they could offer was 6 months. On the other hand, brewmaster Jean-Marie asked for a fresh younger bottle. These were requests I observed for the next three beer occasions I had with these guys. My wife Sandra and I went with the choice of the brewmaster. I wanted to begin to understand what was inside his head and the best way to do that with any brewmaster is to drink what they choose.
Photo left: Orval brewmaster Jean-Marie Rock
Jean Marie confessed he likes his Orval fresh. Why? Because he likes the fresh dry hopped character of an Orval when it is less than three months old. Roger, well known for his consultancies with lambic brewers worldwide craved the character of Brettanomyces yeast. I was still learning, listening, watching, smelling, tasting every moment of the conversations.
After our dinner Jean-Marie suggested have an “after dinner beer” at a hillside café/bar in the small village of Chiny. It was here I had my epiphany.
Next: Orval Epiphany
Comments
Looking forward to part 2 of this piece Charlie.
Yeah, looking forward to the "Next: Orval Epiphany" too.
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