Dieu du Ciel Dernière Volonté

Brewed by Dieu du Ciel
Style: Belgian Ale
Montreal, Canada

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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UPDATED: AUG 21, 2010 This is pretty well carbonated as a regular pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces a four finger thick, pale, off-white colored head. The head is quite fluffy and creates ample lacing and a nice rocky surface as it slowly recedes. The beer is an amber tinged gold color, but shows a lightly hazy, orange-gold hue when held up to the light. The aroma, noticeable as I visually inspect this beer, smells of grassy hops. A closer inspection yields aromas of orange zest, ginger, piquant white pepper and an herbal grassy note. As I begin to notice the hops a bit more some aromas of tropical fruit (lychee, apricot) become more noticeable and compete equally with the herbal and grassy notes. Towards the finish grassy grain notes, dusty crushed pale malt aromas and some crushed cracker notes become noticeable. I really like the combination of vibrant hop aromatics and spicy yeast character and this beer definitely achieves that nicely.

Lightly sweet grain character mixes with the hops to produce some aromatic honey-like flavors. The hop character at first contributes flavors of lychee, apricot and orange zest, but then towards the middle and into the finish picks up some herbal notes of lemon verbena, pine and a light, green grassy note, all the while retaining a lingering hop fruitiness. The bitterness, for all of the hop character is fairly light; in fact there is more astringent, fresh green hop character in the finish than there is clean, biting bitterness. This has a certain heft to it that is lightly viscous and of a light medium body; this still manages to be quite a bit more quaffable than the body might suggest (perhaps the hop character makes this more drinkable). Fermentation character, while secondary to the hop character, still plays a significant role with flavors of clove, musty crushed pale malt, piquant-slightly-woody pepper, young ginger (accented by the hops) and some sharp phenolics that are more than clove but not quite into the cured plastic category.

My second pour sees an increase in a clean bitterness that is quite ample and seems accentuated by the zippy carbonation. This is quite a tasty beer and I am really wishing this was a 750ml bottle that I was enjoying. I definitely wish I had more of this beer as I am definitely a sucker for beers like this.

Purchased: Liquor Max, Loveland CO

Last will? Yes, this will be my last. A huge disappointment from one of north America’s best. Compared to Peche Mortel, this is as clumsy as a Mr Bean sketch. Looks fine: bright lager-gold with a tall head and extraordinary length. Yeasty aroma with botrytis-like sugars. The spritzy palate is too fizzy for the style. Fat malts and marmalade sugars fill the mouth but the finish jars. Coriander and a salt shaker of all-spice. Dunno what the hop mix is but the result is an overpowering spiciness that, to paraphrase Spinal Tap, goes all the way up to 11. (11.5 fl oz bottle from Down Under Cellars, Leura)

Tap @ Copenhagen Beer Celebration. Pours clear light golden with a white head. Aroma of malt, yeast, honey, flowers. Taste is malt, yeast, honey, fruity, flowery hops. Medium body, lively carbonation. 120512

Poured into a snifter. 4.0 A: Orangish brown color. I poured all the yeasty goodness in and that seems to be settling slowly on the bottom. Two fingers of creamy white head. Retention is good and plenty of lacing is left. 3.5 S: Lot of peach in this. Apple orchard-type funk. Flowery, earthy, and mildly spicy hops. Some light pepper from the yeast. Moderately yeasty and bready. 3.5 T: Tastes like the nose. Peachy fruitiness with a light apple funkiness. Flowery and earthy with a touch of spice. Peppery and yeastiness from yeast. Bready maltiness. 4.0 M: Medium body. Lightly spritzy with a nice creaminess. Good here. 3.5 D: It’s a tasty beer, but it’s ungodly expensive for what it is so I doubt I’ll ever buy it again. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 04-27-2012 23:27:51

Amazing intense nose of flowers. Exhuberant aromatic mouth built on a strong bitterness and a malty palate. Great hybrid Belgian style. After 3 or 4 sips, the aromatic profile is a bit heavy. What hop variety is used in that beer? Sorachi? Enjoyable by connoisseurs.

Nice orange/amber colour with off white head. Lively spicy aroma. A quality belgian ale.

CBC 2012, Copenhagen. Clear golden beer with a offwhite head, Hoppy, floral, fruity aroma. Floral, grassy flavour with fruity notes.

Tap at CBC. Hazy golden colour with an off-white head. Aroma and flavour of hops, yeast, spice, caramel and malt.

CBC 2012. Pours cloudy golden with a small off white creamy head leaving lace. Aroma is citric a bit piny malty fruity hoppy spicy. Flavor much similar to aroma, nice dry bitterness with hints of grapefruits and pines. Finishes bitter piny.

Sample from tap, CBC 2012. Hazy, dark golden colour with an off-white head. Aroma with floral hops, Belgian spicy yeast, and caramel malts. Taste is fruity and light sweet. Medium body with a long lasting fruity finish with malts and flowers. A really good beer for this style.

Draught at CBC. Pours clear golden with a white head. Nice but rather regular belgo + hops.