Anyone else planning to partake in Orval Day at the venues listed here, or just drink one at home? I was pleasantly surprised to see Ale Apothecary listed as a venue, and need very little incentive to drink Orval. It’s the beer that first turned me on to Brett and cellaring. It’s pretty dynamic as it ages and the relatively low cost of entry means it’s easy to get some for planned interval tasting or to pull at random. I’ve actively looked for an American analog, and thought The Commons’ Flemish Kiss was my ideal (until The Commons took a, um, hiatus). Would love to find a year-round Brett pale with American hops in the ball park of Orval’s ABV and pricing, it’d be my table beer.
Thinking of heading over to Belmont Station tomorrow for this. I'm intrigued by the vintage bottles they're advertising. I've always figure that Orval probably isn't a beer that ages well. Love to find out I'm wrong about that.
Everybody’s palate is different, but I think you’ll be happy to find out how wrong you are. If anyone wants to buy 6/12/24 beers to see how it changes over time at 6 month intervals, you can’t do much better than Orval or Bigfoot in terms of bang for your buck.
Beermongers is doing pours of 14, 15, 17 and 18 Orval, along with vintage kegs of Flemish Kiss, upright August IPA and Alesong Touch of Brett.
Haha. Randomz. Just drank a 2yr old Orval tonight. Don’t know how much it did or didn’t change over time, but it was delicious. Also, wasn’t a gusher, which breaks my streak of 15 straight Orvals that went crazy after cracking the lid
