After a solid breakfast we left early in the morning for Orval, the trappist monastery deep down in the south of the Province (= County) of Luxemburg.

Under a blue sky we arrived and Mr. François de Harenne, the commercial director, gave us an extensive tour of the compound. The brew-house, dating from the 1930’s, is still in perfect condition.

The fermentation and bottling line are new and state of the art! After the visit and a stop at the brewery shop, we sat down for lunch in the outlet called l’Ange Gardien (= The Guardian Angel) we enjoyed:

There are two, very small breweries in the neighbourhood of Orval and we visited them both in the afternoon. The first one, Millevertus, is run by a very enthusiast former bank-employee called Daniel Lesire.

You find the brewery in the village of Toernich, near Arlon. Daniel is just enlarging the capacity of his brewery, so the brew-house wasn’t ready for visit yet, but he was happy to show all of his equipment. We sat down on the patio of his house for a very special tasting.  The local newspaper La Meuse had a journalist there and we appeared in the issue of that week!

Millevertus makes very unusual beers (a lot of commissioned beers too) such as Blanche de Lorraine, a wheat-beer with Mirabel-plums. We were also able to taste a beer with anis (pastis) and a smoked beer (unique in Belgium) as well as two excellent triples, called Triple FFFado (for the Portuguese community in Luxemburg) and a clearer Triple Saint Denis. All the beers were served with a very good cheese, washed with one of his beers during the riping.

The second brewery, Rulles is situated in the nearby village with the same name.

The brewery is also expanding but the brew house was ready, and we were received in the most friendly and hospitable way. Even the brewers’ son of 6 years helped his father serving the beers! All their beers, Rulles blonde (7%), Rulles brune (6.5%), Rulles Triple (9.5%) and Estivale (5.2%) come in 75cl bottles only. They export about 35% of their production.

In the evening we went for dinner in the best place in town, called “La Lamborelle”.
Their house beer ”Airborn”, served as aperitif, is a strong dark bitter sweet ale brewed at Bouillons’ Marché de Nathalie and comes in a painted pottery US helmet!

We enjoyed:

After dinner we did a trappist tasting evening. Regnier had ordered all the monks’ beers and they were served one after the other, they were compared and judged.
We played a very funny game “flip-coaster” everybody practiced and the official contest was to be held on Friday in Bruges.

It was already past midnight when most of us got back to the hotel on the other side of the square after another wonderful day in the Belgian Ardennes.

Day IV