Dieu du Ciel Péché Mortel

Brewed by Dieu du Ciel
Style: Imperial Stout
Montreal, Canada

Pours dark brown with a dark brown disappearing head. Super potent aroma of coffee and chocolate. Love that coffee aroma. Flavor is huge dark roasted coffee beans with earth and smoke. Bitter roasted with a charred, burnt finish. With all these powerful flavors, it does manage to be slightly sweet and chocolaty up front. Only for a second though. Finish is dry. Very different. If I ever have a craving for a coffee stout, this is the one I would chose.

Bottle. Pours a oily black with some brownish gunk at the bottom of the bottle. Coffee stout DDC style. Amazing in every sense. The coffe comes through in the nose and taste. Amazingly drinkable for 9.5 ABV.

The aroma is amazing, roasted coffee, dark bitter chocolate, molasses. The roastiness is almost burnt, with a pleasant smoky component. the appearance is beautiful, almost jet black, creamy tan head. The flavor is first coffee, creamy dark chocolate, sweet and roasty all at once - beautiful. The finish is roasted coffee, slight hop bitterness, then a gradual and very pleasant warming from the alcohol. The mouthfeel is amazingly thick and creamy and smooth. Finally, a beer that lives up to its crazy hype. Excellent all around. (At $5.99/12 oz., this really can’t be an everyday indulgence!)

This beer is ridiculously good, even if you aren’t a coffee addict. Bottle poured jet black and opaque into a Koenigshoeven glass under a perfect cap of milk-chocolate colored frothy head. Hands down, this is the best SMELLING beer ever. Super-punchy aroma of coffee, but not just a single bean. This literally smells like the aisle of different coffees in a supermarket, with lots of depth and no cream or sugar watering them down. There’s a touch of dark chocolate, maybe even a bit of burnt dark chocolate, which takes a more predominant role in the flavor. Ah, the flavor. If I *were* a coffee junkie, this would probably hit a 10 with me. Since I’m not, the assault of roasted black coffee and toasty chocolate was just good, not great. Surprisingly drinkable with a light-medium body, the ABV really does come through only after the bittersweet flavors upfront fade out, and of course in the warming redness in your cheeks. Dieu du Ciel > Unibroue as far as best Canadian brew, and it’s not even close, people. Go buy one of these babies, it’s worth every bit of the $5.

Bottled chez Mes and Sim. Mes very generously offered to open this beer after I told him that strangely I don’t like coffee but, with the odd exception really like coffee beers. We drank it while watching some of Wayne Rooney’s greatest ever goals, and a rerun of the end of United beating Chelsea in the Champions League final of 2007-8. I’m not sure I’ve laughed so much watching football. "Red guy, red guy, blue guy, red guy" etc. The beer itself is one of those coffee beers ut’s easy to enjoy. Black with a slight beige head, and a great aroma of coffee but with noticeable hops. Big and hoppy in the mouth with coffee and burnt roasty milky malts. Really tasty and well brewed and even after a long day on the beer still a treat. Many thanks guys. Let me put you in the picture Let me show you what I mean The messiah is my sister Ain’t no king man, she’s my queen

Tasting at Blacklick Wine and Spirits. This beer was a beautiful pour. Dark brown with a giant one inch mocha colored head. The aroma was black coffee of course. Flavor packed a wallop of alcohol, black coffee and dark chocolate. I wanted to like this beer a little more, but the carbonation and the alcohol put me off a bit.

Generosity points deducted from overall from 17 down to 15. Appearance: Pours a midnight brown with a picture perfect 1/2 inch, dense khaki head. Aroma: This brew gives off aroma from a good two feet away. Freshly grinded medium roasted coffee beans and that is about it. Taste: Dark chocolate, a nice cup of medium roast coffee, burnt malts and roasted malts finish it off. Leaves a similar aftertaste in your mouth as if you just had your morning coffee. Mouthfeel: Has a luxurious silky mouthfeel. Almost creamy, but definitely smooth and silky. Very modestly carbonated. There is a little fizz going on that, combined with the bitter coffee feels like spiciness. Overall: This is heads and shoulders better than most Imperial coffee beers I have sampled and reviewed. It’s not overly complex, and almost bores me that its just a thick glass of coffee. I’m not sure of the age of this bottle, but I’m thinking if the coffee can mellow, other interesting flavors could come out.

Black with a tan head. Aroma of dark roasted coffee and a little smoke. Flavor is dry roasted coffee goodness. Some charred oak barrel flavor lingering in there also. It is extremely dry and roasty, not hoppy, dry. Very good.