Dieu du Ciel Péché Mortel

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

11.5 oz. Big, lasting cappuccino foam on this black beer. Aroma is espresso and the just-brewed grounds, and some char. Flavor is mocha with extra dark-roasted coffee, brown sugar, a touch of cream, char, chicory, caramel, and slight metallic herb. Later some cured tobacco. Large body is smooth, sticky, lightly tingly, and just dry enough. Very nice, but for the price ($5.50/single) there are several others more worthy.

I’ve had this many times, but now I have my own 12oz, no date from beerbuzzmontreal for myself. Eventually I’ll get around to putting in past reviews. Deep brown--black in the glass--with a small tan head, fading to a thick ring and thin film. The strongest aroma here is coffee, and anise comes next (as far as picking up aromas goes). Plenty of roasted malts and baker’s chocolate with some sweet brown sugar is noted. Flavor is drier and less sweet than the aroma had led on--not that it really smelled that sweet anyway. Scorched coffee and roast are up front with some anise again. The finish is dry and slightly ashy with some warming alcohol noted and bitterness peaking around a 3. Light prickly carbonation with a medium body. I remember the bombers of this being quite a bit better--maybe I’m wrong.

Wow, I wasn’t going to bother rating this, or any beer, but I think it should be declared that I found this to be a really good coffee stout, somwhat sourish and nutty, but not "imperial" in any sense of the word. Coffee is the big thing here, all over the nose and taste. Some hints of chocolate and later as the bottle warmed up, some woody, earthy, mushroomy vanilla. Decent, but nothing to get all excited about.

Dark opaque appearance, thick head formation. Strong used coffee grounds aroma and dark choclate shavings. Intense dark chocolate flavor dry hazelnut, slightly chalky, light fruitiness. Heavy coffee roast in the finish, pretty bitter. Intense all around, thick in flavor and aroma.

Obviously well-crafted brew that uses the finest ingredients, but I still find it too one-dimensional to be so lavishly praised.

Offered by glouglouburp at the Flossmoor pre-DLD party! Deep black demon in a glass that admits no light through it. Even my taste poured with a big brown head. Taste is of thick, thick stout... a stoutshake? And, oh, yes, a big taste of coffee comes in just behind it. Wonderful stuff.

660 mL 08/05 Bottle. Pour of pitch oil black, a sparse foamy head of banana coffee and cream, lacing superbly. Aroma of rich colombian roasted coffees and a bucket full of cold grounds from a long post church coffee hour. Touches of ash, mixed with manhattans. Really not all that enticing, more like my grandmother’s kitchen after a long morning of swilling coffee mixed with bailey’s and smoking a pack of Virginia Slim Menthol lights. The coffee acidity is a touch harsh and lightly overbearing, at first. Overall, the complexity is high and the mixture of chocolate dougnut frosting, sweetness from the dredges of Ghiradelli chocolate syrup in the bottom of a coffeehouse, and a run of blackstrap molasses flow together to form a sensation that beautifully counters the sometimes too strong coffee acid. As my cohort points out, this is a three phase beer. First, coffee and tamarind dry acidity. Then, secondly, a run of nice sweetness in a series of complex darker forms, like molasses, heavily roasted malts, and wicking oaked currants. Finally, after a light wash of fruit and a more coffee drippings. In the end, a beautiful transcendance of hop behaviour. The coffee bean flavor fade away and a gentle tinge of Simcoe lands on the tounge in a graceful drying and balancing method. I really think that the coffee acidity hides the hops acidity for a majority of the time that the beer is in the mouth, so that hops only show themselves at the very end in a nice lemongrass rich smack. A few notes appear. A musky white truffle like sensation is first in the profile and also part of the aroma, which is peculiar. Also, the coffee flavor here is heavily focused on the bean and it’s oils, more so than the actual brew, which is fantastic. Overall, scrumptous, but the acidity is a little hot. Alcohol supremely hidden.

2004 bottle. Pours an oily black with a light tan head. It smells like your sticking your head in a coffee grinder. The coffee smell is so powerful it really masks any other aromas you might be able to pick up. taste is quite alot of coffee as you would expect from the smell, but not as powerful as you’d think. Alot of chocolate in the taste, with some caramel, roasted malts. toffee. very nicely done and if you like the smell of coffee pick this beer up.