Dieu du Ciel Rigor Mortis Abt

Brewed by Dieu du Ciel
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Montreal, Canada

12 oz bottle: Hazy mohogany brown w/a lasting light beige, medium sized head. Malty and a bit musty at first whiff. Peppery spice, burnt roasted malt, hints of chocolate. Light rose floral and plum esters. Bready and fresh crushed pale malt aromas in the nose as well. A touch of an acidic note in the very deep nose. Sweet up front, malty flavored with toasted, caramel, and hints of chocolate malt. Peppery yeast is light as is the plum fruitiness, but also the floral flavor. A bit of earthy hop mid palate into the finish. Drier finish with a light astringency and very light bitterness in the very finish into the aftertaste. Some toffee and molasses notes as well. Medium bodied, medium CO2, warming, but mostly well hidden alcohol adds to the dryness of the beer. Smooth up front. Overall a really nice beer! Very well put together. I think I should have saved this as a victory beer after I finish walking the Breast Cancer 3 Day on Sunday, when I might feel like I have Rigor Mortis after walking 60+ miles over the weekend... Nah, I’ll be fine!

Bottle. Sugary sweet malty nose with wood and berry. Faint alcohol with a swat of yeast. Brown-black body with a clinging, creamy rocky beige head. Taste is sugary sweet with a kick from otherwise well-integrated character. Wood and syrupy red berries, a little spice with the yeast. Lightly nutty cracker beside the rich malt sweetness, faint caramel and light chocolate with think orange peel and plum. End-stage peppercorn. A delicate flowery air, with subtle cheek warming and absolutely no rough edges. Smoothness bespeaks controlled low-temp fermentation and obvious craftsmanship. Full body is syrupy and sugary, yet there’s no disgusting slurry or cloy-overload as in other 10%+ malt bombs (I’m looking at you, DFH); even though it’s not as dry as the Sixth Glass I had last night, this is very drinkable. Complex and definitely worth revisiting after some (six months?) additional fermentation - will be looking forward to the winter!

I am not impressed. Malty, with a slight edge of dried fruit and a fairly obvious alcohol note, and of course plenty of caramel/nut brown ale...but not layered with complexity and other than the lovely palate of a rollicking carbonation and froth, it’s a fairly middling kind of abt/brown ale. Doesn’t do it for me, though certainly drinkable. Bottle.

0.34 l bottle at PBF. Dark amber color. Sweet, caramelly, nutty and berryish aroma with a hint of something musty. Sweet, toffeish, caramelly, berryish, rummy and almondy flavor with some belgian spiciness. Warming with some alcohol sharpness. Too caramelly and sharp.

Hazy mahogany body, thin head. Toasted bread aroma - melba toast!, malty, coriander, almost spiced. Rich alcoholic brew. A lot of warmth up front, a lot of sweet malt; candi sugar thankfully not overdone. Holds its strength better than Rochefort 10 which always comes off overly boozy to me. Very full-bodied, but more austere than the luxuriant creaminess of, say, Westy 12. Better executed and finessed than the US quad examples I’ve sampled so far. Final impression of full, doughy bread - if this beer was something Monks would drink to maintain themselves during lent, it would serve its purpose as food substitute very well. I’m going to need to run around the block a couple times to work this one off. Overall, one more reason why DdC is one of my favorite breweries.

Poured dark amber brown, caramel, dark fruits, molasses, little tobacco, little alcohol, slight yeast.

Brown bottle, 341 ml, purchased at Au coin Duluth, drank in its glass, savoured on July 24 2009; eye: dirty brown, opaque, tiny beige head, no lacing; nose: caramel malt, hops, light tobacco, spices, light yeast, candied fruits; mouth: caramel malt, hops, light tobacco, candied fruits, caramel, molasses, finale in alcohol with a good presence of candied fruits, full body, rather carbonated, mildly sweet, lightly bitter, liqueur-like, sticky; overall: quite likable FRANÇAIS Bouteille brune, 341 ml, achetée chez Au coin Duluth, bue dans son verre, savourée le 24 juillet 2009; œil : brune sale, opaque, petite mousse beige, pas de dentelle; nez : malt caramel, houblon, léger tabac, épices, léger levure, fruits confits; bouche : malt caramel, houblon, léger tabac, fruits confits, caramel, mélasse, finale en alcool avec bonne présence de fruits confits, corsé, plutôt carbonatée, moyennement sucrée, légèrement amère, liquoreuse, collante; en résumé : bien aimé

Bottled. Poured coppery-amber with a creamy, quickly-formed cap of yellowy-beige head. The aroma opened with toasted, semi-sweet raisin and dark fruity notes that carried all the way through.. darker, spicy yeast, banana, and cocoa accented.. warm overall, with everything melding well together. The flavor started with spicy, slightly sour yeast and banana notes, with the same fruits and raisins from the nose rolling across the middle.. black pepper spiced up toasted chocolate and caramel.. finished semi-dry with great balance between the yeasty impression and the malts. Heavier-bodied with creamy, rolling carbonation on the palate.. engaging the whole way through.. just an excellent beer!