Bières Bouteille

The Orval is considered the queen of Trappists.

Both bitter and sour, it is suitable for aperitif and meal or after a long day of work.

When you serve Orval beer you notice a beautiful amber colour filling your beer glass. The beer has a generous white foam. On the nose, you’ll get notes of the fresh hop, Brett, orange, savoury and malty aromas. The beer aroma reveals a slight acidity from maturing in the cellar. The taste of Orval beer is unique. Bitterness is rather strong, and you’ll taste wild yeast. The ageing process has added a fruity note to the taste. It has a nice spark to it and a bitter finish. The special taste comes from the quality of the water, hops and yeast. 

One of the best beers in the world

Orval beer is considered one of the best beers in the world for many reasons! The beer is very rare to start with. The strict traditional production methods set certain limitations, and thus, they cannot be mass-produced. Also, the demand for beer is higher than the production. And most importantly, it respects the Trappist tradition. Trappist beers are very rare, and only 12 monasteries in the world produce Trappist beers. It makes Orval a true gem, and the beer has become a reference for Trappist beers!

How Orval beer is made

Making Orval beer is not like making any other beer. The beer-making process is complex to guarantee quality. 

The basic recipe and methods for brewing beer are starting with malting and then the actual brewing process. During the brewing process, the source of starch, often barley malt, is turned into simple sugars, which then are turned into alcohol. The resulting liquid is left to rest and then filtered. 

For making Orval beer, the barley and hops need to be harvested first. Once the harvest is completed, the barley will be prepared by the malters. For Orval, pale malt and a small proportion of caramel malt are used. After the hops have been turned into pellets or extracts, the hops will be dried. When the malt has been cleaned, it is crushed by using the wet-milling method. During this process, water from the Mathilde fountain is added. The mash is pumped directly into the filtering tanks. The mixture is constantly stirred during mashing. 

Sweet wort is obtained in just a few hours, and then it is brought to a boiling vessel where hops are added. When done, the boiling wort needs to be cooled down rapidly. The cooled wort goes to fermentation tanks where yeast is added. The fermentation lasts about four to five days. After the fermentation, the young beer is pumped into holding tanks for maturing for up to three weeks. Yeast is carefully added to the tanks. Orval beer referments to the bottle at 15 degrees celsius. Only two months after the beer has been brewed and checked several times for quality, the beer can reach the consumers. 

How to serve Orval beer

Serving Orval beer is a celebration itself. When opening the bottle, apply some pressure to the cap, so it stays on the bottle. You’ll hear some pressure getting out. Once the bottle cap is removed, pour the beer slowly into a special Orval beer glass. Keep the beer glass tilted and the bottle horizontally. Slowly straighten the glass until only one cm of beer is left in the bottle. And now you are ready for a tasty drink!

The Orval beer glass is chalice-shaped. In case you do not have an Orval glass to enjoy your beer, use another chalice-shaped glass. A tulip-shaped glass will work as well, but still, the classiest way to drink Orval is from its proper glass. 

The recommended serving temperature for Orval beer is the same as its storing temperature, between 10 to 15 degrees celsius. If it is served at colder temperatures, the beer colour is less bright. 

How to store Orval beer

Orval beer is like good wine and can get better at ageing. The beer label has a creating date on it. The beer drinker can decide either to drink it right away or to keep it in a cellar. If you do not want to drink your Orval right away, store it away from the light between 10-15 degrees celsius. Thanks to the Brettanomyces yeast, the beer can be stored for several years in a cellar. 

The taste will change a bit depending on the age of the beer. The young beer tastes more like a bouquet of fresh hops. It has a lighter palate with fruity notes. Older beer has a caramel touch and slight acidity added to its flavour. 

Orval beer bottle shape

Even the shape of the beer bottle is special, a very round and curvy shape. It resembles a bowling keel. The special shape has the purpose to allow the bottle to resist the strong pressure the beer contains. 

The story of the Orval beer logo

The logo of Orval beer is recognizable anywhere. It is an image of a trout holding a golden ring in its mouth. The legend has it that Mathilde, the countess of Tuscany, once lost her wedding ring, her only memory of her deceased husband, into a fountain in the valley. She immediately started to pray to God when a trout appeared with a golden ring in its mouth. Mathilde exclaimed that truly, this is a golden valley! To be thankful, she decided to build a monastery in the valley. The Orval beer’s logo carries out this legend. 

Which foods go well next to Orval beer?

Orval beer goes well with strong cheeses, red or white meat, poultry, fish and vegetarian dishes. You can even pair it with desserts to balance the bitterness.

In French, do you say “un” Orval or “une” Orval?

Well, that is a heated debate that beer drinkers like to discuss. We’ve written a full article on how to order Orval beer correctly. 

Thirsty for an Orval beer? Buy Orval beer online and add it to the cart! You may also find Orval beer in one of our beer boxes or discover it with our beer subscription. 

A tangy and fruity taste, the woody aromas due to the time of fermentation in barrels provide a long final touch in mouth.

This beer can be kept for an extremely long time, it will only get better.

The Gueuze Cantillon is a blend of several organic lambics.

The Gueuze Cantillon has a golden blond colour with some orange reflections. The head of the beer is very thin. The beer has delicate citrus aromas. On the nose, you can notice lemon, apple and apricot. On the palate, you have fruity tastes, especially the lemon and apple. It provides a strong acidity with a long finish in the mouth. The balance of acidity is perfect. 

The Cantillon brewery and its gueuze have become famous not only in Belgium but all around the world. Some people even call the beer “Champagne de Belgique”. The demand has not only become high among beer drinkers but also among collectors. People as far as the United States are trying to get their hands on a good Cantillon Gueuze. 

Now, the Gueuze Cantillon represents half of the brewery’s production. The brewers follow a thousand-year-old brewing tradition and promote the natural taste of a beer by using the best raw materials. The cereals they use are 100% organically grown.
 

The history and making of Gueuze beer

In the 18th century, a Benedictine monk discovered champagnisation by blending different non-sparkling white wines. It was just the beginning of discovery, as, during the next century, a Brabant brewer mixed several Lambics that caused fermentation in the bottle. And finally, the Gueuze was born. 

Before that, only Lambic and Faro beers were drunk in Belgium. The monk’s discovery of champagnisation and the Brabant brewers mixing of lambics started a new revolution. The Gueuze beer then became a hit. In fact, it was not the Belgians but Americans who noticed the value of a gueuze beer. Before it came back to the spotlight in Belgium, the demand was much higher in the United States. 

Creating this complex mixture of different lambics requires some work. Around ten lambics from different barrels need to be tasted to select the best half for the mixture. Young lambics that are one year old are mixed with old lambics, which are three years old. The bottles are then placed horizontally in a cellar for a second fermentation that takes about one year. Once the lambic has become sparkling, it has become a gueuze. 

Anecdote of cooking with Gueuze Cantillon beer

Proper beer lovers and geeks would call anyone mad to waste a good Cantillon Gueuze on any dish. Nevertheless, there is a whole recipe book about cooking with Cantillon beer!

You can find this book at Brussels Gueuze Museum, which is a museum dedicated to gueuze beer and established in the Cantillon brewery. 

The book called “La Gueuze Gourmande” was published in 1995 and only focuses on dishes that use Cantillon beers. There is a recipe called tête pressée that even requires two full bottles of Cantillon Gueuze. This book was made when the consumption of traditional gueuze was declining, especially during the tough times after World War II. This book intended to use the beer in recipes in a way that the unique beer flavour would not disappear. 

The recipe book may be forgotten now, but luckily the consumers have once again started to appreciate a traditional gueuze beer the way it is.

Learn more about the Gueuze Cantillon beer.

How long can you store a Gueuze Cantillon beer?

The good news is that this beer only gets better with time! In a cellar, Cantillon Gueuze can age for more than 20 years without losing any taste or aromas. 

Where is the Gueuze Cantillon brewed?

The Cantillon brewery is located in the Anderlecht neighbourhood in Brussels, Belgium. It is very close to one of the main train stations, Brussels Midi. 

How to serve the Gueuze Cantillon?

The Gueuze Cantillon can be served at 15 degrees celsius. Cantillon brewery has a dedicated beer glass for the gueuze. If you are unable to buy a Cantillon beer glass, then use any straight format beer glass to enjoy your beer. 

What are some other similar beers to Gueuze Cantillon?

If you enjoy the Gueuze Cantillon, you must see the other gueuze beers in our collection. 

What are the other beers by Cantillon brewery?

We encourage you to try out Cantillons Kriek and Gambrinus. 

Are you interested in trying Gueuze Cantillon? You can buy the beer online by adding it to the cart! 

Berliner Weisse with a slightly salty taste. It is produced in the tradition of this style, with raw wheat and by crazy but exceptional brewers.

The acidity is well balanced and the taste of the oak barrels is present. Assembly of lambic of 1, 2 and 3 years of age, unfiltered and unpasteurized. The majority of the lambic comes from the 3 Fonteinen production but it is still blended with lambics from other breweries.

A fruity, tangy, dry and bright red beer

Gueuze refermented for 6 months, based on a blend of lambics.

La Frambuesa Y Chocolate is a lambic from the Hof ten Dormaal brewery (the 'zure van Tildonk') with raspberries and chocolate. It is matured for at least six months, it expresses very complex notes of acidity and develops a slightly tannic taste.

The Cuvée Armand et Gaston is a gueuze born from a blend of lambics of one, two and three years of age, all produced at 3 Fonteinen.

The beer has rested for at least six months in the bottle, a beer of great finesse for experienced amateurs, who love this style.

The Cuvée Armand et Gaston is a symbol of all the know-how of the 3 Fonteinen brewery.

Brettanomice yeast wild beer.

Phi beer aged in barrels from St-Emilion, Margeaux and Pomeral.

Cherry beer barreled in oak barrels which gives it a sweeter taste than the Grand Cru.

The Jeun'homme cuvée is a fairly hoppy blond beer aged in oak barrels. The original beer is heavily hopped with four different varieties and a dry hopping that enhances that bitterness.

Aging for 4 months gives it a tangy taste. The bold bitter acid combination is softened by this aging and is therefore very pleasant to drink.

Classic Gueuze assembled with lambics from the breweries.

Unique blend of lambics matured for one year. This creation is a tribute to the founder of Oud Beersel who founded the brewery 135 years ago in 1882.

Omega Sour is aged in red wine barrels.

Refreshing sour with citrus and apple flavors.

Découvrez la bière belge Lambicus Blanche de la brasserie Timmermans. Fondée en 1702 à Itterbeek, cette brasserie est la plus ancienne de Belgique. Parmi les bières les plus connues, on retrouve la Timmermans Kriek et la Timmermans Framboise. La Lambicus Blanche est une bière de style Lambic avec un taux d'alcool de 4.5%.

The Rodenbach Grand Cru is the barrel version of the Rodenbach.

Its maturation for two years makes it a very acidic and very tannic oud bruin, to taste if you are a fan of the style, this beer takes it to the extreme.

Mixed fermentation and maturation in barrels.

Triple with mixed fermentation.

Woody and lemony notes, it is slightly spicy.

An aftertaste of vanilla, dried cherries and cocoa. A complex and acidic but very balanced beer

The Cuvée des Jacobins is a 100% barrel-aged beer. Lambic ferments spontaneously and matures for 18 months in oak barrels.

A Flemish Sour fermented with the house yeast Morpheus.

Horal Megablend est une oud gueuze assemblée à partir de lambic de toutes les gueuzeries membres de l'Horal (Boon, De Cam, De Troch, Hanssens, Lambiek Fabriek, Lindemans, Mort Subite, Oud Beersel, Tilquin and Timmermans). Il s'agit de l'édition 2021 disponible depuis avril 2021. Date de "péremption": 2040.

La bière belge Oude Gueuze de la brasserie Mort Subite est une gueuze traditionnelle de 7.0%. Fondée en 1686 à Kobbegem, cette brasserie est connue pour ses bières Mort Subite, Kriek et Framboise. Découvrez la gueuze, un style de bière unique et authentique.

La bière belge Gueuze de la brasserie Mort Subite est une référence en matière de bière acide. Fondée en 1686 à Kobbegem, cette brasserie historique est aujourd'hui située à Kortenberg. Parmi les bières les plus connues de la brasserie, on retrouve la Kriek et la Framboise. La Gueuze est un style de bière belge qui se caractérise par son acidité et son effervescence. Avec un taux d'alcool de 4.5%, la Gueuze de Mort Subite est une bière à découvrir.