Dieu du Ciel Corne du Diable

Brewed by Dieu du Ciel
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Montreal, Canada

Beautiful red-amber color, bright; the head reduces quickly, but leaves behind a sticky lace. It has a winderful hoppy aroma, with resins, a bit fruity and a touch of vanilla too. Unfortunately the sugars all all gone; there is a strong caramel and toffee flavor and a very strong bitterness, with some good oils; the final is very long. Good, but why wasting so much hop and forgetting the body?

12oz bottle from BOTW. Pours a bright amber-orange with a nice head of creamy white lace that clings to the glass. Aroma is hoppy, but restrained. There is plenty of caramel here. The caramel is almost toasted in character - really nice. Flavors are well blended and artistically done. The malts are quality and really well developed. The hops are clearly west-coast. Well done IPA.

Leafy green hops aroma, a la west coast, opaque copper, small custard head. Taste is a big hops start, malt balances this so well, chewy, sticky, full bodied, wonderfully bitter, extremely well balanced. Fabulous!

You know what I think is overrated? balalnce. When I hear people talk about a balance in beer as some sort of holy grail, I usually have to strain to keep from rolling my eyes and think to myself that balance usually means boring. That being said, this was a perfect balanced beer, with a sturdy malt base - a lot of chocolat eand caramel paired with a solid grapefruity hop that remains in sync from the first sip to the finish. And the beer continues to reveal new flavors as it warms - some smoke, some citrus. Really nice stuff.

MIBF ’05 On cask, deep copper hazy in color with a small off-white head. aroma of orange,citrus,oak and crystal hops. Dry and bitter with a smooth palate.

Small bottle, pours a hazy dark copper-ruby with medium brown, produced a creamy variable bubbled off-white head with some bubbles that were almost tan colored, head looked like meringue on the beer, head softened to a nice cover in a few minutes, I could see some effervescence when the glass is held up to a light, this looks darker then your typical IPA, leaves bubbled lacing on the sides of the glass, a nice big aroma of citrus hops, along with oranges and toasted malt, faint caramel and grassy fragrances, flavors of citrus hop pine bitterness with toasted malt and some malt sweetness, the hops keep the sweetness in check and then some, flavors of orange skin and pine needle, hop bitterness and pine hangs on after the finish, mouth feel is medium or a bit more, nice on the tongue, a nice great hopped IPA, I found this balanced more towards the hops with toasted malt flavors.

Bottle at home - shared with Mette. Cloudy dark red/brown - white head. Medium hoppy, resin, citrus, fruity, grass, nice medium malty, light sweetness, caramel, light peppery, peach, piney, grass, fresh grass. Long lasting bitter and dry finish.

11.5oz bottle. Pours a deep, very cloudy red with highlights of amber and deep brown. The head is tan in color pours up very, very thick - but fades quickly into a thin, large-bubbled layer that leaves big spots and chunks of lace on the glass. The aroma is all IPA: a nice combination of hops, bitter citrus, and fruitiness. There is a slightly medicinal and grassy quality to the aroma, too. Hints of caramel and chocolate can be found just under the waves of hops. The flavor is well-balanced - starting off both bitter and hoppy but also quite malty with a good bit of residual sweetness, doughy breadiness, and roasted chocolatey notes. There are lots of bready notes that start tinged with caramel and end at mid-tongue tinged with chocolate. The heavy-handed caramel malts on the front end combined with the color of gravity would lead me to call this an American Amber, not an American IPA... But it is tasty. At mid-tongue, as the bitterness increases, a distinctive ester quality comes through - that tastes more like a Belgian strain than an American one (probably is given the brewer). The finish is spicy and strong with evergreen hops. The big bitterness leads to a dry and green finish. The mouthfeel is well-bubbled - light and crisp with a soft sting from carbonation. The body is medium-full and straight-forward. Overall, a very tasty beer. It is a little more interesting and better balanced than the Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA I tried last night... (I know, I know - they’re not the same style - but this one is more sublime and happens to appease my hop-head desires a little better).