On my first foray to the cheese shop I bought myself an Orval and a Rochefort 6, there was a second excursion a couple of days later because Mrs Velkyal had eaten most of the farmhouse cheddar I bought the first time and so we needed supplies, and I bought another Orval as well as a Rochefort 8 and 10.
Wanting to get as much as possible from these beers, I didn't open them that evening, I decided to do some background reading. Thus it was on Tuesday evening I decided to pop open the Orval, and this is what I got from the bottle.
For the sake of not repeating myself, I have decided to include the review I put for Orval on Beer Advocate:
"I fear I am about to commit beer heresy by admitting to not really enjoying this one all that much. The beer was bottled on the 31 May 2007 and as such was 14 months old when I drank it.It poured a very nice copper colour, and was of course cloudy - as a personal opinion this is a good thing, as I like beer unfiltered and unpastuerised. There was a fluffy head which dissipated slowly, and was gone within five minutes. On the nose were distinctly citrus notes. The first taste was a shock to be honest. This will sound odd, but it tasted fizzy, rather tart and almost like popping candy on the tongue.It wasn't awful, just not what I was expecting - so I will of course have another one to further hone my opinion." As of yet the second bottle hasn't been opened.
Last night after having had dinner and several very nice V3 Smoked Malt Special lagers at PK, and an Erdinger Dunkelweissen, I got home, popped Doctor Who into the DVD player and decided I would try the Rochefort 6, which poured like this:
I love that colour! It reminded me of the peat back at home in the Outer Hebrides, and I am sure there was a slight tinge of peat on the nose as well. After the fizz bang of Orval I was unsure of what to expect. The first taste of this was wonderfully smooth with a sweetness which reminded me of caramel. Eventually this gave way to dark chocolate, without wanting to sound like Jilly Goolden, it actually put me in mind of the organic dark chocolate from Marks and Spencer. As I say it is a nice smooth ale, with just enough zing to avoid it being cloying in the mouth, and the more I drank the more the chocolate was replaced by cocoa. Overall I really enjoyed this one, and am looking forward to trying the more potent 8 and 10.
Heresy indeed!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the bottle or Orval was stored horribly. I suppose the brett in there could have been killed off if this was stored in the extreme heat (not so sure if extreme cold would do the same..but I think not). That would certainly explain why it tasted sweet instead of tart or sour..that actually might be what Orval tastes like straight out of the brewery w/o any chance for the brett to chew up residual sugars and cause that Orval tartness which is so popular.
Anyhow, great site-will certainly be checking back frequently.
Oh and give Orval another shot ;). Last weekend I got really lucky and found some that had been bottled in November of 2006..now that was a sour beer.
When I said that it was like popping candy - I meant that it fizzed a lot in the mouth, it was certainly tart. I tried the second bottle I bought last night and this one I enjoyed more. Glad you like the site, have to say the same for yours - planning to try to the jerky!
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