Dieu du Ciel Péché Mortel

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

Bottle. Black colour with a nice head. Extreme aroma of coffee. Great smooth roasted flavour with a lot of coffee, if you are in to coffe this is it. Ends up with a tasteful and dry finish.

(Bottle, Ölbaren, Copenhagen, 28 March 2008) Pitch black colour with a frothy, lasting, brown head. Roasted, malty nose with loads of freshly ground, heavil roasted coffee. Roasted, malty taste with the same loads of coffee, hints of chocolate and cocoa and a lovely coffee bitterness in the finish. Smooth and creamy mouthfeel, hardly any traces of alcohol (but mind you, it’s 9,5%). Ok, it might be a bit one dimensional, but the mixture of the stout and the coffee is quite brilliant, it really comes together in perfect harmony. Truely a world class beer! Love it!

(22 oz bottles: Obtained in trades with BierBauch and shadey, thanks Ron and Shane!) Finally, a bottle all to myself! This way, instead of rating this in poor conditions (eg, a dimly lit bar), I get to rate it in the comfort of my own home. So, the legendary Péché Mortel. As the beer departed the bottle, heading toward the waiting tulip glass, the color was pretty much your basic brown, but once in the glass, it’s definitely black, except at the edges where it’s a deep mahogany. Tan, creamy head is very active on the pour, but eventually settles to a thin layer. As expected from the beer’s name, the nose is all coffee, a powerful, deep, darkly roasted, bitter coffee. I really can’t smell anything else with this beer, just the coffee. And also as expected, the flavor follows suit, dominated by the very same intense coffee. It’s moderately bitter and very roasty, but it’s not at all sweet, and I can’t really taste much in the way of hops or a traditional maltiness. Alcohol is pretty well hidden -- it certainly isn’t very noticeable to me. By now, I only have a few inches of beer left in my glass, and the liquid is now translucent and dark brown, so this isn’t nearly as dark as some other Imperial Stouts. But the thin layer of head is still maintaining itself. Oh, and a modest complaint with this beer is that it’s a bit thinner than I expected, not even full bodied in my book, so let’s call it medium "plus". Overall, I really like this beer. It’s probably the most coffee-dominated beer I’ve ever had, so it gets props for that. But it loses props with me for being so one-dimensional. Ultimately, it’s too much bitter coffee and not enough of anything else to balance the beer out, and I wish it wasn’t so damn dry. Frankly, I find the astringency of the finish to be a bit harsh. Since they call it an "Imperial Coffee Stout", maybe we should interpret that literally. It’s not a coffee-flavored Imperial Stout, but a mega-coffee flavored regular stout. In any regard, very good stuff, but contrary to its reputation, not nearly one of the very best Imperial Stouts in the world, at least not according to my tastes.

Tap at Spuyten Duyvil: Opaque with a deep brown head. Intense coffee aroma. Some anisette notes as well. Molasses, borderline offensive; a bit over the top. Creamy thick body. The flavor has an extreme coffee bitterness throughout. It was hard to detect any nuances from the malt. Not enough balance but still a semi-tasty concoction. Over the top on the coffee IMO, and I love coffee.

Bottle shared with Lukin. Huge coffee aroma, very slight hops. Not much complexity, but coffee is very strong and yummy. Pours pitch black with a nice big brown head. More coffee in the flavor, a bit of fruitiness -- cherry, kiwi, caramel, molasses -- fairly thick and drinkable. Little alcohol present in the taste. Very tasty.

Pours a beautiful black body with a thick frothy light brown head. Very full strong roasted coffee aroma, almost burned with some bitterness from the roast. Hints of alcohol. Flavor is dominated by coffee, coffee and coffee, dark roasted almost biding. Vague hints of chocolate in there also. Pretty sharp and bitter behind the stout sweetness. One dimensional, but what a dimension it is! If you like stout and coffee (which I do) this beer is something for you! Need a little more body/smoothness to be world dominating!! Thank you so much Rich (richlikebeer) for going through so much to get me this one!

Bottle for rating #1100: Nearly black, large frothy brownish head, extremely thick lacing.   Certainly looks fantastic!   Very raw coffee grind aroma, so much so that is nearly outdoes any aspect of a normal stout.   Subtle burnt malts, charred wood/campfire on the nose.   Even a bit of earthyiness accompanies the coffee.   Not as assertive coffee on the tongue, at least compared to the aroma.   A rich, malty aspect of the beer is more noticable here than in the aroma.   Emergence of hops halfway through, but fades through to the finish.   Fairly assertive coffee background throughout all phases of this beer.   It is also fairly sweet.     However, doesn’t seem as strong as Speedway Stout.   Big body, quite strong, but seems a bit spritzy on the tongue.   The ABV is slightly noticable, but blends fairly well.   Lonely coffee on the exit, slightly dry.   If you like your coffee, this one is a no brainer.   Thanks goes out to slob and radiomgb for providing the samples!

Shared by wheninhell during the RBSG Road Trip 2007. Bottled 08/05. Dark black body with a medium creamy light brown head. Sweet coffee aroma with some chocolate and molassas. Sweet coffee flavor, some chocoalte, sugar molassas and sweet caramel.