By Mike Lewandowski

Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Orva, Belgium - July 16, 2001

Few brews are more mysterious than Trappist beers. The term "Trappist" is protected by appellation; only six breweries are permitted to place it on their labels. These breweries are connected to the traditional Trappist abbeys of Chimay, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle, Westvleteren, and Schaapskooi. This article will focus on a recent trip I made to the brewery at Orval abbey.

The history of the abbey is as mysterious as the beer brewed within. In 1076, the Countess Mathilda of Tuscany was visiting the current site of the abbey. During this visit, she accidentally dropped her gold wedding ring into a bubbling spring. This ring had great sentimental value to the countess; it was a gift from her deceased husband, Godfrey the Hunchback. In desperation, she prayed for the ring's return. Miraculously, a trout rose to the surface with the ring in it's mouth.

Awestruck by the miracle, she cried: "Here is the golden ring I was looking for! Blessed be the valley which has returned it to me! From now on and forever I want it to be called ‘aurea vallis' (Orval - golden valley." To honor this history, the emblem of Orval is a trout with a golden ring in it's mouth. This emblem can be seen on every bottle of Orval.

An abbey was established on the site, and was active until it was destroyed in the French Revolution. The modern abbey was reconstructed from the ruins of the original abbey in 1926. This reconstruction was partially funded by commemorative postage stamps issued by the Belgian government. The stamp issuance did not raise enough funds to totally finance construction of the new abbey. A brewery was established in 1931 to raise additional funds. Today, the abbey produces beer, bread, cheese, and honeyed sweets for sale. Proceeds from these activities fund the abbey, and numerous charities throughout Europe.

The beer produced today is very similar to the beer brewed in 1931. The first brewmaster was trained in Germany. This influence resulted in the beer being given a high hop bitterness. The second brewmaster was trained in Great Britain, and is responsible for dry-hopping.

The brewing process begins with the spring water that was once home to Countess Mathilda's trout. Three types of Belgian-grown two row malt are mashed-in at 145 oF, and subsequently raised to 162 oF for 60 minutes. The mash is then sparged from the mash tun. The flow leaving the mash tun proceeds through a grant. The grant consists of a number of faucets, and is located on the side of the mash tun. Each faucet is connected to a drain orientated at a different location within the grain bed. By varying the number of faucets that are open at any given time, the sparge can be precisely controlled.

The mash is then boiled with white candy sugar. This unique combination of candy sugar and malt gives Orval its distinctive orange color. Twenty minutes into the boil, Styrian Golding and Hallertau-Hersbrucker hops are added.

Following the boil, the beer is whirlpooled and transferred to open fermenters. There, the beer is fermented with an ale yeast for five to six days at room temperature. Following the primary fermentation, the beer is then transferred to conditioning tanks where it is innoculated with lager yeasts and Brettanomyces. The Brettanomyces is added to increase attenuation, and to give the beer an added complexity. Secondary fermentation takes several weeks. The fermentation can be monitored from the control room by cameras strategically located in the fermenters. Sounds like a cool new cable channel to me.

Following fermentation, the beer is bottled, without filtration and pasteurization. Additional candy sugar and fresh yeast are added for bottle carbonation. This process is very similar to that used by most homebrewers. The beer is then aged in the bottle for five to six weeks at 59deg F. I have to tell you, being surrounded by thousands of cases of this wonderful beer is a religious experience in its own right!

Both the Orval bottle and glass were designed by the architect wh designed the reconstruction of the abbey. The shape of both mimics the bottom of a conical fermenter. This helps the priming yeast to settle out of the beer.

Group tours are available, but arrangements must be made in advance.


Brasserie d'Orval S.A.
Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Orval
6823 Villers-devant-Orval
Belgium
061 311261 (p)
061 312927 (f)
www.orval.be