Dieu du Ciel Solstice d’hiver

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

A personnal favorite, my favorite beer from Quebec (with Dieu Du Ciel’s ABT Rigor Mortis; I think God is helping this brewer because He likes the monotheistic reference). Aged a year, the one I had last week seemed slightly thicker than the 2009 brew I’m having while re-writing these lines. The very intense citrusy/spicy hopping seems to be striking even more aggressively when fresh but, in both, the caramelized heavily malted base confronts the bitterness to create a perfect divinely balanced harmony, like Ying and Yang. Many subtilties also shine out, some spices and fruits, traces of alchool, and the aftertaste is amazingly long. I remember having stomach aches or acid burns after drinking that but now that I’m doped up on Nexxium, it is much easier to drink... Really, a masterpiece of a beer...

Au maître-brasseur de Dieu du Ciel, tu es un DIEU! Un bon goût de fruit et de caramel brulé. Je jouissais à chaque gorgé!

Bottle from Dr. Capone, Ph.D. of Beer. Pours turbid brown with 2-finger creamy, uniform tan head. Nose is malty, with blueberry, elderberry, rock sugar, earthy peaty malt, brown sugar, spirits. Tastes malty, earthy, oaky, hoppy, with nuts, cinnamon, vanilla, whiskey, berries, port, hops, cognac, black pepper, bacon. Palate is very unique, very balanced, and mind-bendingly complex. I consider this a winter warmer, but whether you call it a winter warmer or a barleywine (and it is not a barleywine), this is one of the top 50 beers I have ever quaffed! Outstanding, brother!

When I think about a barley wine, this is what it looks like, even though most do not. Murky brown with a slight red shade and a tan head. Demure nose reminiscent of an abbey quadrupel, plum, apricot, fresh hops. Broad and sticky on the palate, decent acidity, very light carbonation. Massive flavors with lots of depth. Burnt orange peel, toffee, fennel, eucalyptus, clove, on and on. Very biting hops at the end balance the nearly sticky sweetness. This gentlemen, is bad-ass. Greatly underrated in it’s category.

(bottle dated 7/00) Hazy red with beige head (plenty of head despite age). Aroma is sweet, caramel, rich and sticky, vanilla, raisin, light chocolate. Taste is rich, malty, moderately sweet, caramel, raisin, some chocolate, light roasty. Full bodied. Fantastic beer, definitely more along the lines on an English-style barleywine.

Balance and a wonderful hop finish. You’d swear that there were cherries in here at times. One of the best barley wines ever. It’s a dark blackish pour with a moderate head. Lovely carbonation and a fruity, estery aroma, but it’s the mouth feel and finish that grab you. Alcohol is well hidden. wit nice malt-sugar to hop balance. Again, what a finish. I bought all 7 at my local purveyor. Wish he’d get more. Fine effort.

Wow what a barley wine. This is what autumn is all about! Has the softest palate of just about any beer I’ve ever tried. The flavors scorch onto the tongue in a very lightly warming way that accentuates the flavors and squeezes their juices out so you get each one. The alcohol in this one is perfectly integrated into the heavier brew. Flavors of dry peat and dry, almost undetectable brett? Lots of figs and candied fruits--aged barley wine flavors--are everywhere but they are sugary and DRY, not sweet, so this one tastes like it has all the best of the aged barley wines and all the best of the unaged barley wines. It doesn’t have that cloying sense what so ever that some aged beers take on. This beer was just perfect, and it gets extra points for being a perfect barley wine right out of the box instead of having to wait on it for 2 years. One of the all time greats!

(1 year old, aged in a bottle) Ahhhhh! Solstice d’Hiver. We are truly lucky to have such good beers here. Malt, Burnt caramel, blackberries, figs and plums in a voluptuous embrace.