Belgian Beer Week 2025

Oh dear, my belated apologies, I thought La Trappe was a Belgian ale, oops! It's a Dutch ale brewed at the Brewery de Koningshoeven (website), dear dear me, sorry! 😒

National Beer Days, International Beer Days, IPA Days, Belgian Beer Weekend, presently we are in Belgian Beer Week 2025 (website), the celebratory drinking doesn't stop! 😉 So what better than a Quadrupel Trappist ale to celebrate with?!? The 10.0% Quadrupel from La Trappe (website) is indeed a Trappist ale, and a pretty good one to choose too, and which La Trappe claims to be the first Quadrupel in the World! 

I've seen La Trappe Quadrupel described as an amber beer, a dark amber beer, but it poured out so dark it looks more like a dark reddish brown colour, it is that dark an amber, see my photograph above, which is pretty accurate! Brewed with Hallertau Northern Brewer (hopslist) and Slovenian Super Steirer (also known as Super Styrian, ie Aurora grown in Slovenia - hopslist), this Quadrupel has a dark fruits and slightly vanilla aroma, as with most malty or slightly malty ales I detected significant butterscotch, as well as dark fruits in the flavour. Rich, slightly sweet, and smooth to drink, with a warmth from the alcohol, but dry enough to drink easily. 👍

Nice one, cheers, and Happy Belgian Beer Week! 😁

International Orval Day

Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Orval

The 23rd of March 2025 was this year's International Orval Day. Why have an Orval day? Well, as often is the case, strangely for a specific Belgian beer though, the celebratory day originated in the USA in 2015 with the US importer of Orval, Merchant du Vin, holding an Orval promotion in a store in Ohio, calling  it "Orval Day." Because of the success of the promotion, the importer organised a national Orval Day the following year, which has developed into an International Orval Day since, held in March very year (hopculture).

The Abbey at Orval is a relatively new abbey, rebuilt by 1948 by the sites of earlier abbeys, the remains of the previous abbey which was burnt down by French revolutionary troops in the late 18th century, remain adjacent. The name Orval comes from a legend that Countess Matilde of Tuscany lost her wedding ring when it fell into a well, she prayed, and it was returned to her by a trout with the ring in its mouth, she proclaimed, "Truly this is a Val d'Or!" - Valley of Gold, and she established a monastery there in gratitude. The photograph above is from the VisitArdenne website, to which I extend my thanks, oh yes, and the Ardennes is going to feature a wee bit in another blog I have planned to share very soon. 😉

So, yesterday I visited the The Jolly Fisherman in Hastings (blog), because I happened to know that Oliver there sells Orval, consequently logical to me. 😁 Orval is a trappist ale brewed in the Brasserie d'Orval at the Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Orval, the brewery was founded in 1931 during the rebuilding of the abbey. Lay persons carry out the work in the abbey's brewery; the abbey also being known for it's cheese, the production of which I believe monks carry out.

Orval is a 6.2% ale, ostensibly, as there are more than one fermentation processes in it's development, including being bottle conditioned, so no bottled beer is exactly the same! And unique among Belgian beers, it is dry-hopped, thanks to the early influence of a brewer who had worked in England. Indeed, the hops used are Kent Styrian Golding (hopslist) and German Hallertau-Hersbruck (hopslist); I believe their first head brewer was German.

The colour is more golden than my photograph above shows, but with an orange hue, I think including some of the yeast at the bottom of the bottle was influential in the image, so a wee bit cloudy. The beer is dry and slightly tart with a bitter finish, and has a subtle spicy/fruity aroma. My taste has changed since I first drank Orval when I used to visit my brother in Brussels 20-30 years ago, and at the time this was my immediate panic buy when I entered a bar, always with numerous beers on it's beer menu. I did go off it a bit after tasting Westmalle Tripel, for example, but drinking it again, I really enjoyed it, cheers to Orval Day! 😁

Looking back at Ashley Routson's book (blog), she states that Orval is "arguably the best beer on the planet." I may argue with that myself, but she's right that it's pretty damn good, cheers!

Oktoberfest in Hastings!

Oktoberfest at The Prince Albert, 28 Cornwallis Street, Hastings TN34 1SS (website), comes early each year at this genuine free house, which I believe has a relationship with the London brewery Anspach & Hobday (website). I'd been meaning to check up on when its Oktoberfest was being held, as I remembered from last year I just got in at the end (last day), which I did again this year! But they do have quite a busy period coming up... 🍺🎉🍻

I started off with the cask ale, brewed by Anspach & Hobday (website), their 4.3% session IPA Wunderbar, brewed in collaboration with German Kraft Brewery (website). German hops are used in abundance, Callista (BarthHaas), Hersbrucker (hopslist), and Huell Melon (hopslist), producing a cornucopia of fruit taste and aroma, notably, melon, dark berries, forest and citrus fruits. The beer was slightly cloudy and, yes, packed full of fruity flavours indeed, with a dry bitter finish, and I thought a wee bit different, and not bad at all! 🍺

I then started on the lagers, first from Edinburgh brewery Newbarns (website), who the pub featured during Hastings Tap Takeover last year (blog). I drank their 5.6% Festival Bier (5.7% last year) brewed using a blend of 10 different malted barleys, producing a German style golden lager. It was slightly bitter, with plenty of flavour, and very easy to drink for its strength! 😁

I then moved on to the real thing 😉 from Bavarian brewery Hacker-Pschorr (website), their special seasonal 6.0% Oktoberfest Bier, brewed with Alpine Spring Water and 'noble' Hallertau hops (hopslist), and brewed in March specifically to mature for Oktoberfest. This was a slightly darker amber colour, a subtle maltiness with a clean finish; my notes say 'folks will realise I'm not a lager drinker, but this is pretty damn good!" Which says it all really, nice one. 👍

Then, from another Bavarian brewery Hofbrau Munchen (website) and their 6.3% Hofbrau Oktoberfestbier, another festival 'special' beer brewed with Herkules (hopslist), Perle (hopslist), and Spalter Select (Hop Alliance) hops. This is a pale golden colour with a subtle sweetness and hints of grapefruit and dried fruits to the taste, very refreshing, and 6.3% (!) so dangerous to drink. My notes say "so much better than the commercial lagers brewed over here." So obviously true, no comparison, I could (shouldn't) drink this all day, cheers. 🍻

I finished off with another Bavarian brew from Flotzinger Brau (website) and their 5.8% Wies'n-Marzen, brewed specifically for the Rosenheim Autumn Festival, not Munchen Oktoberfest like the previous 2 😉 but available all year round. Brewed with Hallertau (hopslist) and Tettnanger (hopslist) hops, and I'll just repeat my notes: "I could get addicted to proper European beers brewed in their own country, pale, drinkable, in fact tasty! Nice one 👍"

Oktoberfest done for another year, cheers folks! 😁