Dieu du Ciel Solstice dÉté aux Framboises

Brewed by Dieu du Ciel
Style: Berliner Weisse
Montreal, Canada

draft during RBSG visit, this was a bright cherry red beer with a soapy white head giving off huge aromas of tart raspberries and some malts. in my experience, the flavor has never lived up to the smell in fruit beers, but this was different. a huge sweet raspberry flavor, very tart all the way through, highly carbonated with a very bitter tail. i would never have thought this was a beer in a blind tasting, it felt more like a fruit soda, this fact however did not stop me from loving every sip.

Bright red color, pink head. Raspberry aroma, tart, some lemon, mild wheat. Wonderful flavor, tart raspberries, huge sourness, lemon, wheat. Incredibly dry, this stuff attacks the palate with a vengeance. Very refreshing. Wow, quite an intersting surprise. Delicious.

Draft...RBSG2005...This beer rocks!... This cloudy red lager was my session beer during my five day stay in Montreal as I visited Dieu Du Ciel each evening. It’s topped by a large, frothy, pink head. Good retention. Tart, barely-ripe raspberries, light lemon and vanilla in both the aroma and every sip. Medium-bodied with lively carbonation. Finishes very tart and dry. I really couldn’t get enough of this stuff. World class thirst quencher!

Hazy red/pink pourt with a short sudsy pinkish white head. Light funky aroma of tart raspberries and chesse. Very tart and very full of fresh raspberry juice. Sour and wheat with piles of big punchy raspberry. Some lemon/wheat with yeast. Hard to get past all the fruit. Very refreshing and clean.

07.09.05 Tap at brewpub. Pink, glowing, hazy; little orangish pink head. Smells like a basket of easter candy, berries, vanilla, marshmallow fluff. Acidic but not in a particularly pleasing way for me as the fruit sweetness is too prevalent. Don’t like it any more than those sour patch candies that tease with sweet then tart then sweet then tart then, with this, much sweetness. Tart but not dry. I’d have preferred to try this without the fruit. Nonetheless, big props to an experimental brewer what’s got the minerals to brew not one, but three Berliner weiss.

On draught at DdC, RBSG, 7/9/2005. Bright pink colored body, with a pink and yellow tinged white head, very creamy. Head is well retained, though it is quite small. However, it leaves long, whispy strands of lace as it recedes down the glass. The aroma has a slight dullness/heaviness from the soaked wheat notes. Hints of creamy wheat porridge, with milk and light vanilla. Sour yeast can be noted, though it is not nearly as expressive in the nose as in the flavor. The raspberries are liberally done, yet nothing artificial or cheap here. Raspberry skins, seeds and pulp all integrated and mostly dry. Flavor begins with a heavy wheat and water texture, but some vanilla, light fruit sugars and then finally, the sourness peaks in. It is, ultimately, quite manageable and not as acidic as I was expecting/hoping. But still quite pleasing and very fresh tasting. A few people were saying that the beer tasted less lively and more dulled than they had remembered in past weeks, with the possibility that we had been getting the bottom of the keg (hence the heavier wheat and duller yeast blandness). But I’m not sure. Carbonation is moderate and adds a sparkling texture in the middle, which helps break up the thickness. Light vanilla and raspberry juice, with a pleasing lactic note that starts to build up on the back of the throat. A touch of wood pulpiness too. I really like the way the fruit is done but I would like to see more sourness. Hope to revisit again soon.

Glass at the brewpub, RBSG Montreal. Bright cranberry red with a lasting pink head, quite clear but a touch oily-looking...gorgeous fruity sweet-tart nose with vanilla and light wheaty malt undercurrents...body very, very dry and clean with loads of fresh though barely ripe and sugar-deprived fruit, light thyme and other dryish seasonings...finish clean, very dry, sour, a knifelike attack on the palate that succeeds admirably. Best beer that was new for me at DDC last weekend, awesome.

Bright glowing ruby red color with a clear body and a white head. The smell is distinctly candy-like: sugary jolly rancher candies, not really giving off any real fruit or wheat vibe, but the flavor is something completely different. Robust, semi-sweet deep raspberries with a good, solid sour quality and a crisp bite to finish it off. Lambic-like, with a somewhat watery body. A highlight of my DDC visit.