2013 Brasserie de L'Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Orval Orval Trappist Ale

Community Tasting Notes (2) Median Score: 89 points

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  9/22/2018 - forceberry wrote: 95 Points

  Brewed on 6th of August 2013, best before 6th of August 2018. 6,2% alcohol.
  
  Somewhat cloudy reddish amber color with a quite big and persistent beige head. The nose is rich, sweet-toned and quite bretty with aromas of orange marmalade, leather, some phenolic aromatics, a little bit of clove and a vague hint of ripe apples. Overall the nose feels remarkably youthful for a beer over 5 years old. The beer is dry-ish and quite light-bodied on the palate with surprisingly light and even underwhelming flavors of spicy brett, virgin olive oil, some phenolic smoky character, a little bit of grainy malt and a hint of leather. The carbonation is still quite ample but also pretty smooth and soft. The hop bitterness feels very mild. The finish is long and attractively nuanced, but also pretty light in intensity with flavors of leather, some phenolic smoke, a little bit of blood orange, a hint of pithy grapefruit bitterness and a touch of lemon-scented hand soap.
  
  At this age Orval feels very complex and beautifully developed, but it also seems like the flavors are losing their intensity: there are a lot of nuances, but overall the flavors are quite mild and mellow, lacking the more opulent intensity of a young Orval - even though one has to remember that Orval never is particularly big for a Trappist beer. All in all, this is a very lovely and tasty example of aged Orval, showing quite a bit - but not too much - of that ubiquitous bretty character with terrific integration of flavors. Perhaps the beer would've been a bit better - or at least a bit more intense - something like a year ago. Nevertheless, this is still one of the greatest beers out there and this particular bottle was no exception to that rule.

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  2/12/2016 - drivingrain Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Full head and flavor. Pale color. No development yet, same as fresh.

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