Peaks & Pints celebrates Orval Day 2025

One day a year, beer bars everywhere celebrate one of the world’s most unique beers: Orval Day 2025. Today, Saturday, March 22, Peaks & Pints will be pouring 10-ounce tulips of Orval all day.

Legend has it that around 1070 AD, Princess Matilda — a Duchess of Burgundy — was traveling through the forest in southern Belgium. She and her companions paused to rest at a clear spring, and when she trailed her hand in the water, her gold ring accidentally slipped off her finger and quickly sank. Upset, Princess Matilda fell to her knees and prayed for the return of her ring when suddenly a trout swam to the surface with the ring in its mouth, returning it to her. She exclaimed, “Truly, this is a golden valley!” (In French, or = gold; val = valley; Orval = golden valley), and she decided to give the land to the church. The first monks arrived soon after.

Located within the confines of the Belgian Notre Dame d’Orval monastery, Brasserie d’Orval was created in 1931 to finance the enormous reconstruction works of Orval. From the outset, it hired lay workers, including the master brewer Pappenheimer, who invented the recipe.

For each bottle of Orval Trappist Ale sold today, Merchant du Vin will donate 50 cents to a charity partner; last year, it was the National Forest Foundation.

Brasserie d’Orval Orval 2024

6.9% ABV, 36 IBU

Orval beer is a high-fermentation beer. The aging process adds a fruity note, striking a subtle balance between the beer’s full-bodied yet complex flavor and bitterness.

The beer was first brewed in 1931 and owes its unparalleled taste to the quality of the water, the hops, and the yeast used. The brewery has selected very aromatic and unique hop varieties, which hark back to the first brewmaster of Orval, who hailed from Bavaria. Thanks to the English method of dry hopping, the beer’s aromas are very pronounced while maintaining the right level of bitterness.

The various stages of fermentation – combined fermentation with the original yeast and with wild yeast, followed by fermentation in the bottle – mean the beer must age for some time and requires numerous quality controls.

LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory