Was I lucky?

33 comments
  1. Nice! Some places sell the very old ones for high prices. Did you notice a difference in flavor?

  2. quite lucky, the oldest in my basement is only 7 years old, currently sipping a 2 year old, wich is a very nice age. But saving them past that time adds little, but it’s always a unique experience. Hope you opened it slowly tough 😀

  3. It’s sour by now. 2 years is the best date for the flavours.
    Maybe up until 3 years…But not 4 years because I have tried one and it tasted sour.

  4. I was just checking my Orval’s. Just realised I have one from 2009 and then it kind of spreads out from 2016 to now.

  5. Not intending to offend anybody, but I had my first Orval last week, actually 2, and I found it rather a bland taste. I like more spicier beer like Duvel, Cornet, Straffe Hendrik or Karmeliet. Should I return my beer membership card?

  6. Very lucky! I suppose the taste gets more intense, more cohesion.i prefer the fresh taste though plus impossible to store beer

  7. I have some 9y old Orvals here and they are decent but I prefer a young one (<1.5y) by far.

  8. Can I just buy some Orval from Delhaize, and store it in my cellar for some years for it to get better?

  9. W once went to a beer tasting bar in Antwerp and there we tasted Orval from 2018, 2012 and 2006

  10. Had a 1976 westvleteren 8 in a cafe in Antwerp and to this day I can still remember it was 17 Euros. Love aged Belgian beers.

  11. I always wonder how a restaurant/bar can get away with serving ‘expired’ food/drinks. (I know its obviously not expired, but does the voedselinspectie know that)

  12. I went somewhere in the Ardennes and some old bar had an old and young Orval on the menu. I noticed a small difference with the old orval, think it was 3-4 years old. But not really worth the wait tbh

  13. Unfortunately since the recipe changed in the late 90’, it can’t go more than 5-7 years. I did a blind test with 2, 3, 5, 7 and 9 years old orval, and everyone agreed on the 5 years old. 7 and 9 tasted more « liquory » and lost a lot of flavor overall.

  14. Only if you enjoyed it.

    Generally though the consensus is that Orval tops out at 5 years and anything beyond is not better; arguably worse even.

    I’m not sure if we did a Biercollectie (YouTube) episode on that, but we did have that conversation multiple times with all guests of the show and that was the general consensus.

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