Orval: less than a month or 6 plus?

I like it best the the freshest I can get it. It also takes an interesting and delicious journey over time.

 

I enjoy it equally well anywhere in the range from fresh to about 5-6 years. For me its not one beer but many different beers in one bottle depending on its age.

 

Had a 2010 in Antwerp this past year, prefer it with some age rather than fresh.

 

I can never find a bottle here in the states with less than 6 months on it.

 

My sampling so far was a combination of such things as the age of the bottle when purchased, a few that I aged myself and a few aged by a friend with a much more extensive cellar than I'll allow myself to accumulate.... :-) My freshest was during a trip to Brussels a couple of years ago when I was able to find it quite fresh with the assistance of a friend and colleague there.

Unfortunately I've not been able to set up a true simultaneous vertical tasting so I can't accurately describe/track the changes. But in several cases I've done a personal review and have had the notes then to help trigger sensory memories.

 

Several years on it.
Only gets better.

 

4-5 years for me is the sweet spot. I've had one at 8 years and it was over the hill.

 

Bars in Belgium almost universally charge a small premium for Orval that is more than 6 months old. For whatever that is worth.

 

Both!

 

I just had an interesting taste comparison between fresh and 3 years old. The popular will favored the older, which had settled into a deep and complex taste, with a bit of sweetness coming to the fore, as indeed the hops faded. I was fairly torn, myself, thinking that the 3-year was past its best. Fun though, very different experiences and the older was not just a dissipated version of the young.

 

Of course, you can't cellar Orval till the end of times, but at age 6-7 years, it's really so soft, almost like a geuze.

 

Decent price alert:
October 2013 Orval is on sale at Meijer in West Michigan for $4.99/bottle.

I decided to pick up a case.

 

besides for the first orval i had, which was ice cold and one of my first good beers, i have loved every bottle of orval i've ever drank. fresh(ish), years old, doesn't matter. often different, always complex, always amazing. i don't have a single bad thing to say about orval.

 

No more than a year for me. Six months is good too. But a bit volatile when born.

 

I've never had one with less than six months on it, but at a year it was very good and the two year old one I recently had was fantastic. A couple I have already in my possession aren't being opened until they hit 3-5 years, I love orval and really can't wait to see how it evolves.

 

All of the above.