Orval (1)

I am intrigued by this trappist beer.  I have never heard of it before until I read it in the beer menu of the Frites (Belgium on tap) and I said to a waitress that I would like to have a try.  Then another bartender appeared in front of me holding a strangely-shaped glass (more like a long-stemmed bowl) and poured the beer in some kind of professional demonstration (he told me later in the evening that he won the second prize in a worldwide bartender contest held in Argentina - I found out that was the Stella-sponsored worldwide event).

I tried the beer, and the only word I could describe it is "special".  The taste is really special, I was not just being courtesy as that bartender praised Orval as one of his favourite beer.  But apart from that, I did not know how to describe the taste since the beer is quite complicated indeed.

So I ordered Orval again last Sat at The Globe and tried to convinced myself that I should be better at describing the taste of a beer.  But I ordered my second round after a frustrating finishing of the first glass.  Why?

Anyway, the experience did not frustrate me, but aroused my interest in finding more about this beer, the brewery and the abbey.

About the Orval Abbey (Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Orval)

Before the beer and the brewery, there was the abbey in the first place.

The place where the abbey stands is a densely wooded countryside in the Ardennes, on a sharp bend in the old Roman road that runs from Trier in Germany to Rheims in France, one of the important salt routes of the earlier times.  Simply speaking, the southern part of Belgium, close to France and Luxembourg.

The abbey followed quite a tragic path as follows:

First foundation

• Founded in 1132 by a group of Cistercian monks from Trois-Fontaines Abbey in Champagne and a community of Canons Regular, who formed a single community within the Cistercian Order.
• Around 1252, the monastery was destroyed by a fire; the rebuilding took around 100 years.
• In 1637, during the Thirty Years' War, the abbey was pillaged and burnt by French mercenaries.
• In the 17th century, the abbey converted to the Trappist branch of the Cistercian order, but reverted back to the Rule of the main order in around 1785.
• In 1793, during the French Revolution, the abbey was completely burnt down by French forces, in retaliation for the hospitality it had provided to Austrian troops, and the community dispersed.

Difficult to get your reward of peace even you are willing to retreat yourself in densely wooded countryside, right?  (just like in Hong Kong?!)

Second foundation

In 1887, the land and ruins were acquired by the Harenne family, who donated the lands to the Cistercian order in 1926 so that monastic life could resume on the site.

Between 1926 and 1948, the new monastery was constructed, and in 1935 Orval regained the rank of abbey. On 8 September 1948, the new church was consecrated (the ruins of the medieval buildings remain on the site).

Legend

An icon, showing a trout jumping upward holding a ring in its mouth, could be found on the beer bottle and the glass.  It tells quite an interesting legend connected to the origins of the site.

According to it, the overlord of the region, (widowed) Countess Mathilda, the Duchess of Tuscany, came here in 1076 visiting the small group of Benedictine monks who had made the arduous journey from Calabria in Italy to build an abbey site.  Matilda was in mourning, sat by the side of a small lake when her wedding ring was slipped from her finger into the water.  She prayed for the return of the ring, and a trout appeared on the surface of the water with the ring in its mouth. She exclaimed "Truly this place is a Val d'Or (Golden Valley)", from which the name "Orval" is derived, and in gratitude made available the funds for the foundation of the monastery here. The abbey's coat of arms shows the trout and ring. The spring still supplies water to the monastery and its brewery.

If that is a made-up, it is a beautiful one and I am willing to believe it as truly happened.

Brewery

Compared to the abbey and the site, the brewery's history is much more straight-forward:

(from the website www.orval.be) the Orval Brewery was created in 1931 to finance the enormous reconstruction works of Orval.  It has hired lay workers from the outset, including the master brewer, Pappenheimer, who invented the recipe.  The brewer’s commercial policy is adapted to the values of the monastic community.  Income from Royalties generated from the brand name go to social welfare works and the maintenance of the buildings.

One special point to mention, there is only one brand of beer being brewed in the site.  Therefore, it is just named as "Orval".

Intrigued

I am really intrigued.  I will go and try the beer for the third time, and only after time will I write my tasting notes (to be fairer in that case).

(to be continued...)