Dieu du Ciel Péché Mortel

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

Now we gonna party like it’s 1999 - yeah man - still in my ears ;.-) Thanks a lot Pivo for bringing this over just for me - youdaman! Love the lable - great piece of art. Great huge spongey light brown head that sticks forever on this opaque colored brew. The most intense grounded roasted coffee beans nose I have ever smelled. In intervalls a bit of cardamon gets released too. Well this is the aroma I love to wake up to - I am a coffee addict - so no doubt I love this. Taste - well, Shitloads of coffee with an incredable, very interesting smokey aftertaste. Some nutty bitterness of course and licorice. Also cardamon and port. Long lasting aftertaste. I like it a lot though it is a bit one dimensional.

9.5%ABV. 12oz bottle. Aroma is ashy, coffee, and even some jalapeño aromas. Wow, lots of coffee flavors. Rich, over roasted coffee flavors. Burnt! Bitter coffee ground finish. Very different, very good. not sure of the high score though.

From my review at cvillebeergeek.blogspot.com.

Appearance: Poured into a small tulip glass. Molasses brown pour results in a nearly opaque blackness in the glass. High level of viscosity is apparent. A small head fairly quickly vanishes to nothing. It’s not pretty, but it is very inviting. 4.0/5.0

Aroma: Very complex. Bitter and sweet coffee is at the forefront of the aroma along with notes of smoke, tobacco and chocolate. Smoke and tobacco? Yes, the aroma does come dangerously close to a coffee and cigarettes, but it works. Very full and satisfying aroma... the kind you can smell for hours. 4.5/5.0

Taste: Very nice. Smooth coffee flavor with more tobacco and some leather and cream. Now we’re at coffee with cream and cigarettes! Still good though. Chocolate notes from the aroma almost disappear but are there faintly, as well as smoke and caramel notes. And the alcohol, high as it is, is completely absent. 4.25/5.0

Mouthfeel: This has a very full feel to it. And it’s creamy, very creamy, and silky too. This feels nice. 4.45/5.0

Drinkability: A very smooth beer, but it’s largesse and it’s 9.5% abv means it is not to be taken lightly. Still, it is an extraordinarily pleasant beer. 4.5/5.0

Overall: Sadly this is not available in our area. Hopefully that will change someday soon. If it does, $5.49 for an 11.5 ounce bottle is not a bad price for such an outstanding beer. Very smooth and incredibly tasty, this is one for the ages. Also, "Mortal Sin" is a very nice name for a beer. 4.4/5.0

Rating #2000 - A tale of suspense and horror.

I’m warning you now - this story is true, and it’s not for the squeamish or faint of heart

Friday, 3/25: I get an email from Brian - he’s got 6 bottles of Peche Mortel to sell. I immediately send word to my friends Rockinout John, Chris and Jeff.

Saturday, 3/26: Rockinout John calls me first - He won’t be able to join us tonight, so I tell him that I’ll try to get a bottle for him too. Chris calls soon after - we’ll go to Rozi’s together - he’s never been there and wants to see what kind of selection they have

Chris, Debbie and Jen pick me up at 2:30 for our little road trip After chatting with Brian and gawking at the selection of Belgian beers for a bit, we walk out of Rozi’s with 3 bottles - I bought 2 (one each for John and I) and Chris bought 1. We plan on tasting this after dinner tonight. I jokingly tell Chris that if the beer is as good as everyone says it is, we could keep all 3 bottles and just tell John that his bottle broke - ha ha - we think we’re very funny.

I arrive home at 4pm, set the paper bag containing 2 bottles on the kitchen table. While I was gone, Lisa and Chloe decorated easter eggs - it’s made a mess, so I start to help clean up. Suddenly, "CRASH" "POP" "BANG" - I spin around to see our cat Tucker on the kitchen table and then as my eyes drift down towards the floor, I scream "NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! <br
A big brown 44oz lake on the floor, splinters of glass all over the kitchen, brown splatters all accross the wall. I feel like I might faint. I stand there in shock for a minute - what am I going to do now? Oh my gosh - even as it sits on my linoleum, I can see that it’s a lovely deep brown with a thin mocha head floating on top. The kitchen is full of a sweet malt aroma. Almost an hour later, I’ve gone through almost a whole roll of paper towels and mopped up the floor. Chloe comes in from playing outside - she’s fallen in the mud. She takes off her pants and socks and runs through the kitchen - "WHAM!" - she slips and falls on her butt. She’s crying, it’s time for us to go over to Chris’ house.

Debbie can’t believe what happened - she says I jinxed it when I joked about telling John that his bottle broke. Chris rubs it in a bit - tells me that his lone remaining bottle has just quadrupled in value.

Jeff and Alicia arrive later and we’re finally ready to open our only bottle; and this is what really causes me pain - it was sooo good, sooo rich, like the best espresso you’ve ever tasted, roasty and laced with chocolate and caramel. Just like it was on my floor - the body is a deep brownish black, topped with a thick mocha head that lasted all the way to the bottom of my glass. Every smooth sip of this was so full of mouth coating flavor and a finish that lasted forever.
I don’t know if I’ll ever get to taste this one again, but I do know that I won’t soon forget my 2000th rating.

Small tan head fades fast.Roast coffee/alcohol nose. Big coffee roast profile, med alcohol heat. Good roast bitterness in finish

Sampled a 660ml bottle from 11/04 at Monk’s in Philly. It could easily be argued that the mg’s of caffeine should be included on the label, right beside the ABV. I could smell the poured black beer sitting a foot or two away from it. Strong coffee aroma and flavor with a thin head. The alcohol was hardly noticeable and this one is a GREAT after dinner "apertif." Ironic that I found this in Philly the same day I flew back from Montreal and the Diue du Ciel, which did not have any (US only they said). A nice treat. Rerated on 2/3/06, bottle from 8/05. Ratings stand. Outstanding. Re-rate, Mar 07 (1.5yr old bottle from 8/05): just as fantastic as ever, truly a fantastic beer, although it is one dimensional. So very nice and holds its own (more of a desert beer, though) against Speedway and Mephistopheles batch 2 in this horizontal. Rerate (4/08) of 12oz bottles on separate days, once in horizontal alongside two vintages (08 and 07) of ST Jah-va and a KBS. Clearly the winner, excellent coffee depth and richness, yet finishing with a nice bitterness, a wonderful beer, albeit a one dimensional beer. ST just doesn’t have the coffee depth and richness and is also stickier sweeter.

This beauty pours with a black body topped by a thick head with tons of lacing left on the glass. The aroma is slighlty sweet and roasty as hell with tons of coffe and a touch of cream. The flavor is just as great with some added chocolate notes. Amazing. Full bodied, slightly dry and a touch warming.

This poured a very black body with a good head. The ashy aroma almost cigarette smoke. I’ve heard rumors that the first batch of bottles was extremely ashy, but that the second batch was one of the better versions made. Well, this is supposed to be the second edition but its very ashy. Still a very interesting beer as the ash flavors and aroma avoid reaching offensiveness.