Dieu du Ciel Équinoxe du Printemps

Brewed by Dieu du Ciel
Style: Scotch Ale
Montreal, Canada

Pours cloudy dark caramel color with tan head. Aroma of caramel malts, maple syrup and alcohol. Sweet and boozy. A lot of heat from the alcohol. Malty flavor with raisins and a nice amount of maple syrup and molasses. Medium to full body with lively carbonation. Bottle labeled 9.5% ABV.

Bottle. Reddish copper pour with a thin white head that lasts throughout. Aroma of sweetness, maple, plum and alcohol. This is very smooth even though it has more carbonation that I normally like. I am a bit of a loss. I like what I am drinking, but no real flavors are jumping out at me. Overall a letdown, because I wanted this one to be one of my tops. Still a good beer, but not sure if it is worth the price.

Very nice label. Tangy, floral aroma. EdP starts out malty and sweet, like a good Scotch ale should be, Then the maple syrup flavor floats in, riding on top of the ale, like a first-rate jockey atop his mount. I can definitely taste the maple syrup - this is the real deal! I like it better than Dieu du Ciel’s Peche Mortel, which is in Ratebeer’s Top 40 as of this writing.

11.5 ounce bottle purchased at O’Brien’s. The bar got a lot of leftover beers from the summer International Beer Festival and were selling them. Pours a murky muddy reddish brown with about a finger of beige head. Aroma of sweet malts and some wood with a detectable maple aroma that is far from dominating or overpowering. Somehow the aroma reminds me of a Trappist style ale -- perhaps a quad or a dubbel. Flavor is quite sweet with rich malts, definite wood tones, molasses, cherries, and an unmistakable maple richness. Light to medium body which is surprising as I had expected a heavier beer. NOTE: The bottle is labeled as 9.5%, though the RateBeer lists it at 8%. The finish contains some of this warming alcohol along with more maple. This beer is well balanced (sweet but not cloying) and makes for a nice winter sipper.

Bottle from City Beer in SF. Cloudy dark amber-brown color with a small off-white head. Aroma is caramel, maple syrup, whiskey, and wood. Flavor is heavily malty and sweet with caramel, toffee, maple syrup, smoky Scotch whiskey, wood, and booze. Palate is medium-full and a tiny bit syrupy with medium-high carbonation and a somewhat lively mouthfeel. Overall a solid representation of the style.

THOUGHTS: Wow. This was great. You could put this on pancakes. Can’t wait to have this during a snowstorm this winter. Just enough alcohol burn. It did get a little cloying, but with this it didn’t matter. And my bottle said 9.5% ABV not 8. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a dark brownish orange with reddish, orange highlights and an average, off-white head that mostly diminished and left fair lacing. The aroma was moderate to heavy molasses, caramel, and malt, brown sugar, mostly maple syrup, brandy and Canadian Club Whiskey. The initial flavor was sweet; while the finish was very sweet, slightly bitter with a hint of sourness. There was maple syrup, brandy, raisin, more malt, hints of chocolate syrup and caramel. The medium to full body was syrupy and sticky on the lips with lightly fizzy carbonation and a light astringent finish.

Deep brown in color with ruby highlights and a small lasting head. Aroma of dark fruit, some raisin, maple syrup, brown sugar, caramel, and some wood. Taste has alot of caramel, some dark fruit, wood, maple syrup, some brown sugar - and some alcohol, especially near the finish. full bodied, nice beer.

Pours clear ruby amber with a thin beige head. Aroma of alcohol, honey, peach pear, molasses and toffee. Taste is sweet thick roast malt and toffee. Medium thin body but has a good creaminess and a sweet finish.