Dieu du Ciel Rigor Mortis Abt

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

Pours deep mahogany into a trappist glass. Tan head with medium retention recedes to skim surface. Cocoa and pit fruit aromas. Sweet and thin upfront with raisins and plums turning to a lasting sweet alcohol burn.

Pretty complex aroma with some raisin and yeast and some big malt presence. A little hot but not annoyingly so. I would expect a little bit with such a high alcohol drink. A little roasted malt in the flavor and a slight hint of sweetness. Nutty and dark fruit flavors. Some plum and raisin are in there. A bit of a chalky texture on the finish. Pretty good and I’ll agree with some previous raters that the complexity is just not as intense as some of the better belgian versions of this. An honorable attempt at an incredibly tough style.

Bottle. Pours a murky brown with a tiny white ring of head. Aroma of Belgian yeast, spices, and roasted nuts. Flavor of roasted nuts and a touch of roasted malt and sweet malt. Not boozy per se, just very warming. Nice abt/quad. It’s roasted characteristics make it stand out from the traditional Belgians. 8/4/8/4/16 (4.0/5)

Bottle. Nice aroma of clove, toffee, sugars, fruits with a sort of very light cognac feel to them. Alcohol comes out a bit more in the flavor, as do the sugars, but toffee and malt hang around to do their best to balance it out. Overripe fruits add to the sweetness but also give it an interesting edge to help balance. Lots of nice aspects, but still a touch cloying for me by bottle’s end. Lots of positives, some negatives.

12oz bottle. Screw cap, gotta love that. Pours a reddish brown with a compact but fairly small off white head. Aroma is subtle. Some dark fruits and Belgian yeast apparent but it is not very strong. Plum is a standout. Taste is very smooth. Nice mouthfeel, almost creamy. Full bodied and the alcohol is nowhere to be found. This does not, unfortunately, hold a candle to the better Belgian examples. It’s not complex or bold enough. It does have a great body and drinkability though.

This brew pours dark reddish-brown with a medium beige head that recedes steadily. Rings of lacing on the glass. Dark cherry, spice and malt in the nose. Medium body with flavors of raisins and cherries, earthy malt and light alcohol. The finish is sweet caramel malt with a dark fruit aftertaste. Good all around.

Bottled at PBF. Clea amber, no head. Hevy caramel aroma. Sweet and full bodied. Intensely warming brandy with ever present caramel. Evident alcohol comes through more is a salty finish. The caramel and syrup gets a little bit in the way, but still a very enjoyable beer.

33cl bottle. Pours hazy deep brown with orangey amber-brown highlights and a thick tan head that quickly fades to a thin, even disc and leaves light streaks of lace on the glass. The aroma is bready spice-cakey with fruit and molasses. The flavor starts very estery and phenol-spicy with notes of spiced rum-cake and molasses. It is very spicy with ethanol bitterness and unexpectedly assertive neutral hop bitterness. The finish is dry and spicy with a pleasant balance between bitterness and cakey malt sweetness. The mouthfeel is strongly carbonated with light alcohol astringency and a pleasant peppery tickle all over. Full-bodied. Overall, a very interesting brew - nice complexity with surprisingly sharp (though neutral and not unbalanced) bitterness.