Dieu du Ciel Corpus Christi

Brewed by Dieu du Ciel
Style: American Pale Ale
Montreal, Canada

Unfiltered hazy amber with rusty reflects. Big crystal malts abound in the aroma while the chunky rye comes out obvious, immediately spicy, sweet, bready and a fair match to the woody, highly citrusy hops. The huge, chewy, not sticky, but definitely thick in an oatmeal fashion mouthfeel is its originality pinnacle. It breaks your ability to quaff it, but enhance your interest and I’ll have to drink more of it to make sure if it accentuates your overall enjoyment as well. Very experimental, apparently the rye caused lots of cleaning nuisance so it might not be remade again, but this is experimental brewing at its best and sets your mind really thinking about the beer.. Do I enjoy it or not? I don’t know!

The Lure:
Floating citrus fruit of all kinds atop a grainy cereal broth. Inviting yet never overwhelming. Earthiness roams within the oranges, a wealthy number quietly suggesting a tongue-first dive.

The Festivities:
An obese, viscous cereal body becomes a burden to the quaffing half way through the glass. There must be way more rye in this than most rye ales. Fruity hops blend perfectly with the flavorful, suave malts, achieving succulent balance. Yeast and rye take a lot of room on the palate, creating an earthy, wooden, resinous character, which is in unison with bitterness hops. If the palate wasn’t hindering subsequent sips with its massive girth, I would love this.

Transcendence:
A winter coat in indian summer.

Cask at Spuyten Duyvil. Citrusy hop aroma over some rich spicy malts. A combination of lemon and grapefruit along with a bit of pine and tropical fruit. Some nice spicy wheat/rye character in the back. A hint of peppery spiciness. Flavour is good and fresh with lots of wheat and lightly caramelly malts. Nice combination of spiciness, citrusy/tropical hops and a lingering citrus flavour. Good balance.

Cask. A lightly hazed reddish amber ale with a thin off white head. A classy biscuit malt aroma with good floral hops and light citrus notes. In mouth, a light malt with good hops, pink grapefruit and medium bodied. On tap at DDC, Dec. 16 2006. with ProbstK.

Strong rye, wet hay, light cotrus notes to the aroma. Opaque dark copper-brown with low, fine-bubbled, off-white head that diminishes to partial cover and thick ring. Pine, rye, orange flavours blend together nicely in the lead up to a fairly assertive bitterness. Smooth texture, lively carbonation fondles the tongue. On tap at the brewpub.

Draught. At DdC. Cloudy amber-gold with a solid white head. Very interesting aroma - a combination of fresh rye toast and appleseed bitterness; grainy. The taste follows right on, definitely reminded me of burnt pumpernickel and biting into an appleseed, nice bitter and fruity balanced finish. Chewy mouthfeel, dry and moderately astringent, the caramel malt is way in the background, and fades long before the bitter rye finish finally arrives. Solid brew - my notes: "damned good beer!"

Small fine head, brown amber look, quiet looking beer. Light, faint aroma, earthy hop notes. Medium bodied, rye added smoothness to its texture which I always do like it. Nice body, light woody character and late bitter end. Runs a bit flat with time.

Cask. Dark amber brown, good sized fluffy tan/off-white head and a bit of lacing. Hoppy, green, vegetable (celery?) notes in the aroma. More celery (but not...) in the flavour, pleasant moderate bitterness, caramel malt and an earthy celery bitterness and tang that is present throughout and lingers in the aftertaste. (I wonder now that I know what was in it, if it was the rye that I was having trouble describing). Light but very smooth palate. (3+) Good but not exceptional, couldn’t quite wrap my tastebuds around it.