Dieu du Ciel Péché Mortel

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

On tap at DDC. This batch, from what I understand, will be bottled and released in the US in the fall of2005.

Black w/ lasting, thick creamy finger of brown foam. Excellent lace. Wonderful aroma of fresh roasted espresso over thick creamy dark chocolate w/ just a hint of vanilla & oak. Thick, soft, creamy feel. Flavour is sweet, w/ a cappuccino/coffee cake-like quality. Coffee dominates profile for sure, but chocolate rounds flavours nicely. Surprisingly, this beer, though complex, is not overly so. It does, however, bring together the flavours almost perfectly.

I’ll start by saying that I usually don’t care for nitro beers, but this was luxury in a glass. liquid decadence. as this was sampled with MartinT, I’ll try to rate it in the style of the great poet himself:

pounds of coffee beat the living piss out of a flourless chocolate cake with caramel sauce. all goes dark, but bitter chocolate gets up to finish and draw a tie. dried fruit, icing sugar and malted milk spectators slowly leave the scene.

This is nearly a perfect beer, as though you couldn’t tell just from my rating alone. Had this one tonight at Spuyten Duyvil in Brooklyn. GREAT!!! Perfect coffee aroma, and even the flavor is just like drinking a sweet and creamy cup of Joe. The alcohol is well-masked and I wouldn’t even gues it was 9.5% except that this brew is so heavy! Don’t drink after dinner, you’d never finish the 12 oz. Thick, creamy, rich, sweet and delightful. Must love coffee.

I love coffee and I love beer, and this is the most amazing combination of the two I’ve ever had. Bitter, chocolatey, lots of coffee flavor and a deep, roasted goodness. Really an amazingly tasty brew.

Absolute darkness with a small head and light lacing. Aroma to die for: earthy, roasted malts, coffee, chocolate and fine cigar smoke(as opposed to a cheap stogie from the next barstool over). Flavor nearly equals the perfect nose. Bittersweet chocolate, lush dark fruit and coffee blend well and are balanced with a subtle hoppiness that result in a mildly bitter, long lasting, smooth finish. More palatable than the DFH WWS. My favorite from the Mondial se la Biere.

Are you sure you’re ready for this? Shut up Jeff - I’m ready. No really, are you sure you’re ready for this? Shut up Jeff, I’m ready. This went on periodically through the night at the 6th anniversary Party where Dieu du Ciel had been kind enough to throw some of the Péché Mortel into barrels for an extra year for us. As a Stoutie I had mixed emotions about it: On one hand I was eager for the elixir, but on the other I was nervous that a beer could live up to the hype. Then Martin T came over to say hi and he was carrying a tulip glass that I will remember for a long time. Mirror-like Obsidian black with an impossible to describe layer of icing on top. How could it go wrong from there. So shut up Jeff, I’m ready.

I wasn’t ready. Wholly unprepared for how decadent this was. Someone threw the birthday cake in the blender and liquified it. I can’t beleive how rich and creamy the coffee and chocolate are. Sadly the bar was getting a little smokey and my palate was getting a little dulled by the previous wonderful Ciel offerings - it became hard to get a full sense of the aromas and the complexity of flavour that seemed trapped and fighting to be noticed under the pounds of chocolate and coffee. Even so I found myself searching for how this could possibly be better. I think the only solution is regular return visits to Montreal to continue trying to figure it all out. In the meantime I’m still tasting the smooth, creamy, slightly bitter finish....

Draught, sampled on May 19, 2004. A jet-black stout topped by a light-brown, lasting, nitro-induced head that leaves thick lacing along the sides of the flared tulip glass in which it is served. The punchy aroma makes clear that this is indeed an impérial stout au café. The nose is brimming with coffee notes ranging from ice cream to espresso. Full, rich, creamy mouthfeel. The coffee flavours are here in abundance; from the sweeter and creamier tastes of coffee ice cream, to the burnt and nutty essences of coffee beans, to the roasty and bitter flavours of strong coffee and espresso. And it’s all seamlessly integrated with the roasted malt character which weaves its own roasty, nutty, and burnt flavours throughout. The finish is wonderfully long and leaves a full, lasting, mouth-coating aftertaste of coffee and bitter chocolate. A powerhouse of flavour. A gloriously and unashamedly over-the-top beer that pushes the envelope. Is it the perfect beer? No, because I wouldn’t want to drink it all the time. But as a singular taste experience it is absolutely stunning.

Bottle.
Pours with a no-light dark body with an olive green head and a straight-up, no foolin’ unground coffee bean nose. Flavor is deep, unfiltered black coffee with a chocolate malt backbone. Superb mouthfee; thick, coating and unforgettable. This isn’t a beer; it’s an alcoholic chocolate milkshake.