Dieu du Ciel Élixir Céleste

Brewed by Dieu du Ciel
Style: Bohemian Pilsener
Montreal, Canada

Clear mid-straw, mid-golden yellow with a moderate sticky white head. Aroma contains a good saaz dose, but mostly a big malt profile, slightly caramelic and hay-ish at times. Taste is very herbal, floral saaz, crisp with moderate carbonation and a light-medium creamy body. The thing is.. after prima pils and a few magnificient sunny and warm spring days, I’m really raging for a good pilsner and I don’t find it, blessed be Victory. Back to the beer, I like a good floral hops character which elixir céleste has, but a bit too subdued to my liking. This and the malt, while perfectly toasty lacks a bit of the cookieness I adore and at times approach cerealic or almost grainy nuances. No defaults, diacetyl or off-flavours though, just a difficult to please taster. Still pretty good, but the kind of beer that gets killed from high expectations.


After almost 3 years of absence, this is back and seemingly better than ever. Seriously, I know my tastes have evolved, but this just seemed like the best beer on the menu yesterday, with the likes of Péché Mortel and Chaman also being on the board. Remarkably fresh, vibrant pils malt character: bready, chewy yet crisp, fresh and clean cereals. Fresh cut grass and hay, floral hops. Full bodied, delicate yet tight carbonation. Plain delicious. From 3.5 to 4.3.

Updated 6-Jul-04 (): Thoroughly enjoyed this in the sweltering heat and humidity last night. Aroma seemd a touch more pronounced than I recall and the head lasted nicely. Wonderful maltiness and crisp finish. Bumped up the score by a couple of points. This is one fine beer.

Original rating (9-Dec-03 - 8-2-8-4-17=3.9): Mild but pleasing Saaz aroma. Golden colour with tight white fully diminshing head. Wonderful biscuity, toasted cereal flavour with medium light body. Comparison to Cerna Hora at L'Amere is certainly inevitable and both are truly fine beers. On tap at the brewpub.

200th and what a beer to rate. This is surely one of my favorite low-ABV beers. The taste of this pilsner is very intense, with a malty body and a lot of subtilities, especially in the impressive hoppiness (mostly herbal), that brings so much happiness! I hope they’ll have the great idea of bottling this one soon; it’s skyrocketing in its category!

On draught 4/16/05 at the brewpub with MartinT. Served in a large pilsener glass, this beer appears bright yellow-gold, shining and clear. You have to love natural filtration, as this one maintains a wonderful creamy mouthfeel and moderate carbonation, that is still natural and tingling. The white head is initially large and slowly dissipates to a ring. Good lacing on the glass is left behind. The aroma is of sweet honey and vanilla flavored malt, with a tremendous fuzzy, green and fresh hops nose, neither too overpowering nor too subtle. Flavor is lightly malty, moderately hoppy and the mouthfeel is smooth throughout, finishing crisp and lightly peppery. Lemons and honey, fresh mineral water, light cream, pears and light apples with a perfect balance of hops. I was surprised to learn that these can be made in a vertical ale fermentation tank, I had always thought they needed a horizontal lagering vessel. But I guess the low alcohol does not require as much activity as say a Maibock or doppelbock. Wonderful stuff. If they only sold this by the 30 pack here in Mass, I’d be all set with my beer needs for the summer. A lovely, smooth pils without all of the cookies and heavy dough. To me, what this lacks in sheer force of flavor, it makes up for in perfect balance and mouthfeel with a riveting appearance.

A spot on Czech pils - superb balance, with crisp noble hops balancing out a bready malt base and a slightly buttery character - hints of toasted grains in the finish - very light sweetness adds a base for this character, as well as light floral notes - creamy and smooth, yet crisp at refreshing at the same time - one of the best lagers I’ve had in quite some time.

Draft @ DDC 10th Anniversary Party. Pours a very bright, clear honey-golden color; white head with good retention and fine-bubbled lacing. Nicely crisp, dry, and minerally hopped aroma; slightest toastiness; very dry. Medium mouthfeel: lively carbonation; gorgeously dry, crisp and toasty pilsener; some very light honeyed sweetness and crisp toasty malts presence; very, very crisp and drinkable; great pilsener. Beautiful. Medium finish: dry, plenty of mineral bitterness, toasty malts; touches of honey; nicely dry, crisp throughout.

Pint at DDC. Pours a nice clear blonde straw with good carb and a nice lasting white head. Aroma is light crackery- cereal, fresh bready pils malts and floral and lightly spicy hops- fresh and very nice. Great bready full pils flavor, clean yeast profile, light toast, light grassy, floral and spicy hops and a very nice refreshingly clean bitterness. Awesome stuff.

gold, white head. bready, cracer-ish malt aroma with big grassy hop. great hoppy flavour with some hay, earth, citrus and malt rounding it out. excellent pils