Dieu du Ciel Solstice d’hiver

Brewed by Dieu du Ciel
Style: Barley Wine
Montreal, Canada

11.5 oz bottle from John’s Market Place shared by Enniskillen. Nose of prunes, golden raisins, and caramelized brown sugar. Hazy rusty brown with a medium, glass lacing, beige head. Flavor is lightly sweet toffee, mixed with light bitterness, molasses, and a touch of pine. Finish is light bitterness and a hint of more molasses.

Perhaps the darkest barleywine I’ve quaffed to date. Slight white veneer of a head. Aroma is loaded with citrus, an excellent grapefruit hop character. Roasty chocolate malt is also prevalent. Flavor is primarily dark fruit and caramel, as the malt character comes out primarily with residual sugars. Molasses and citrus hop are also quite noticeable. Palate is thick and syrupy with mild carbonation. Unique and well balanced.

Bottle. Ruddy brown with garnet showing when held to light. There is a light yellowish khaki colored head. Sweet nose of canned peaches and glazed donuts. There is also some booze and intense toffee. The taste has some strong, lightly toasted caramel as well as cinnamon spiced peaches. The body is thick and viscous, but this works for a big brew like this. There was also some tobacco and a little bit of cocoa, especially in the finish. Sweet and pleasurable.

11.5oz bottle. Pours a deep brown with orange and brilliant amber highlights. It is lightly cloudy with a thin, almost non-existent head light tan head that leaves small spots of lace on the glass. The aroma is complex and malty with notes of caramel, dates, subtle spice, light earthy hops, and light alcohol. Toffee, chocolate, and tangy malt aromas grow the more you sniff. The flavor is mesmerizing - caramel malts, sweet toffee with awesome sugary complexity like chocolate cake and donuts. It also has very interesting cakey and subtly fruity esters. There is a pleasant balancing fruity bitterness at mid-palate with pleasant chocolate-covered-toffee malt flavors. The finish is rich and spicy with delectable malts, dark fruit esters, and a subtle hop bitterness. The mouthfeel starts crisp but mellow with soft, creamy suds and a full, slippery body. Overall - awesome! I usually prefer the more hop-centric barleywines (like American hop-bombs), but this malt-centric take is fantastic.

Pours a translucent brown with a bit of a blood red hue if you hold it up to the light. Molasses, plum and roasted malt in the aroma. The flavor has that off putting jet fuel sort of feel to it but it is just slight enough to make this one still drinkable. Much more on the roasted malt side of the equation here than on the hopped up sweet barleywine sort of experience. A bit of a cocoa kind of flavor hiding in the background which is pretty unique.

Pours a hazy dark orange, with off-white head. Very malty barleywine; caramel, bread, earthiness, slightly roasty, and finishes with some bitter floral hops. Rich flavor and full mouthfeel. honestly I didn’t think it was that tasty though, still good beer.

Bottle @ City Beer San Francisco 2009. Average fizzy white head that mostly lasted. Fair display of lacework. Dark amber cloudy color. Aroma of bread, toasted malt, caramel and quite nice hoppy floral and citrus notes as well. Full bodied with a soft carbonation and light alcoholic thick texture. Moderated sweet and bitter flavor. Light lingering floral hoppy and malty finish.

2009-06-06. Dark brown body with a good sized beige head. (4+) Rich malty aroma, caramel malt. (7+) Flavour has similar rich malt, lightly warming alcohol adds a different note to it. The alcohol is noticeable but not at all rough. Sweet caramel, mild earthy touches. (8+) Medium palate is nice and suits the beer. Really good, very drinkable. I had been looking forward to trying this. A vintage bottle was icing on the cake! Enjoyable beer that I had been looking forward to. July 2007 Vintage. Bottle at the brewpub, Montreal