Brewing At Abbaye d'Orval Starts

In 1628, records at Orval refer to beer and wine consumption by the monks, making this one of the earliest documented beer-related references in the abbey’s history. Orval’s own brewery history states that there has probably always been a brewery at the monastery and points to several pieces of evidence, including old topographical references, a later detailed description of production, and an area near the monastery known as the "hop-field." This entry marks the early brewing background behind Orval rather than the beginning of the modern Orval brewery. The abbey later converted to the Trappist branch of the Cistercian order in the 17th century, but today’s Orval Brewery dates only from 1931, when brewing was revived to help finance the reconstruction of the abbey. The 1628 reference is therefore best understood as a historical precursor to Orval’s later Trappist beer identity.