Dieu du Ciel Péché Mortel

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

12oz bottle (new batch, but undated). Head is initially small, frothy, brown, mostly diminishing. Body is black. Aroma is moderately malty (burnt grain, husks), with a note of highly acrid coffee grounds, antifreeze, campfire ashes, alcohol. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, moderately to heavily bitter, husky, unclean. Medium to full body, velvety texture, lively carbonation, moderately alcoholic. Truly awful aroma this time...like week-old coffee grounds from the garbage can mixed with antifreeze. I hate to bring this down from the 3.5-4.0 range to a drain pour, but this ain’t infected or otherwise accidental...this is just ridiculously bad (perhaps a terrible batch of coffee?).

Bottle (August 05 version) Head is initially small, frothy, brown, mostly diminishing. Body is black (almost opaque). Aroma is moderately malty (coffee, chocolate, roasted grain), with notes of alcohol, burnt wood, and blackberry. Flavor is heavily sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Finish is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, heavily bitter. Medium to full body, velvety/creamy texture, lively carbonation, moderately alcoholic. A very rich, roasty/burnt stout, and certainly better than the first batch that I tried. (8/4/8/4/16=4.0)

Original rating (2004 bottling). Head is initially small, frothy, light brown, mostly diminishing. Body is dark brown to black. Aroma is moderately malty (coffee, chocolate, roasted grain), lightly hoppy (resin), lightly yeasty (dough). Flavor is heavily sweet, moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Finish is moderately sweet, moderately acidic, heavily bitter. Medium to full body, creamy texture, lively carbonation, moderately alcoholic. Plenty of coffee aroma but not too much else to woo me. Sourish flavor, alcohol is readily apparent. Better luck next batch, I guess...this batch ain’t no top 50. (7/4/7/4/14=3.6)

Mocha mousse with rum-raisins, chocolate syrup drizzling over a whipped cloud of Turkish Delight, dark bitterseet thick coffee arm-wrestles for control as the velvety nectar slips effortlessly down... thanks for the inspiration MartinT!

Creamy lightbrown exellent fully lasting head. Powerfull coffee aroma. Too much coffee flavor, chocolate notes but not powerfull enogh compared to the coffee notes. Creamy palate. Long bitter finsih but too many coffee notes.

Bottle from Bottle Trek. Very black color with a tan head that left rapidly. Aromas of coffee and darkly toasted malt. More or less medium body with fizzy/creamy carbonation. The flavor is really dark toasted/burnt malt (but smooth) with something approaching espresso. With time, chocolate notes come forth. Finish is a little bit sweet, and there’s not much bitter other than the burnt malt. Overall, it’s a heck of a drink. Every taste is a fresh experience. It may be the same one over and over, but who cares.

The body was black with a thin tan head. The aroma was incredible coffee and some tobacco. The taste had old lettuce and old coffee. The body was relatively thin. A strange smoky aftertaste. A little disappointing. I would like to try this on tap.

Coffee and chocolate nose. Deep dark night color with a finger of very dense head. Grandiose flavours: big malt, coffee and cocolate sweetness with just enough bitterness to offset. Very full, thick creamy mouthfeel. On Tap. (originally rated 6/10 for aroma and 8/10 for flavour. Re-sampled on a less smokey evening at the bar and bumped both up to 9/10).
Nov. 2004 First Bottled American Release (7-4-8-3-14=3.6): Strong burnt, bitter coffee ground aroma lacks the sweetness of the original. Opaque black body is covered by a thin but long-lasting cover of tan-brown head. Husky, salty, burnt, bitter flavour reminiscent of coffee grounds. Medium body with moderate carbonation. Bottle enjoyed with Lubiere, MartinT, muzzlehatch, Olivier_MTL, Rastacouere and Yowie. Thanks, ClarkVV!

22oz bottle served in a Expedition snifter, provided by Rich: Pours jet black with an huge frothy tan head and excellent lace. Coffee is indeed at the forefront of the aroma but further discovery leads to some mocha and smoked malts, grassy hops and earthy esters with moderate alcohol vapors as well. The taste start bitter but more from coffee than hops. Some dark chocolate and nutty notes are here but quite subdued. The finish is a bit smoky and lightly lactic. The feel is quite lively and a bit astengent. Moderate warming as you drink it, tastes a bit young in that sense. Overall it is quite good and presents much of what you expect. I love coffee and love imperial stouts, so a truly expected to love this beer but...sadly it is also missing caramel and ripe fruit found in most of the great imperials. Perhaps age will help the bottle and I would really like to try a cask version of this beer. Worth having around, just keep your reservations. A bigger version of Bells Java Stout, which is still a good thing.

Bottle at home shared with Tom and Royce ... Big Thanks to tjthresh for this Deep black ... smokey iodine nose ... Again whiskey jump out ... but everyone in room insists its alcohol and coffee and given there no mention of Whiskey in desription i can only assume im MAD... loads of coffee load of it... saying i get whiskey. which clealy isnt there ... i do quit like this... and whiskey or not, its balanced.