Dieu du Ciel Grande Noirceur

Brewed by Dieu du Ciel
Style: Imperial Stout
Montreal, Canada

Serve in Snifter

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Good yellow to orange head, nearly opaque-black beer. Roasted nose, with liquorice, alcohol and esters. Very inky, dry, flavours of wood or hardboard, and lots of roasted grains, with just a hint of hops. Very thick MF, alcoholwarming, seems to thicken in gradually. A very good, but not really exceptional stout.

Bottle@LCRBM. Strong coffee, chocolate and varnish aroma. Black color, firm brown head, good lace. Very sweet, coffee, chocolate, soft bitterness. Full, warming, heavy, flavorful but stick highly drinkable.

Unlabeled bottle, from october 2006. 3rd LCRBM. Milk, roasted malt and coffee in the aroma. Sweetish at first, but this is beaten by the warm alcoholic, and full bodied malty flavor. Hint of licorice. Earthy hops. Long creamy bitter aftertaste. Great balance. World class beer!

Bottle, 66 cl. yesterday @ ratebeer meeting, Kulminator. Deep dark color, with creamy light brown head. Aroma very strong roast malt, chocolate, nuts. Medium to full body. Taste little sweet, but also hopbitterness. Great.

My first sample of this beer was at the brewery in a small sample glass, and I was very unimpressed. Basically seemed like a bigger version of their dry stout, without much depth of character at all. Well, when looking back and seeing the rating so high, I decided to go back and give it another shot, this time from a full sized glass. Wow, what a difference! The nitro pour was just as beautiful, and the aroma still slightly lacking, but there was a late espresso coffee note that was so rich and wonderful that I totally didn’t see at all the first time. That part of the sip was pure heaven every time. Still perhaps a bit rough around the edges, with not too much up front or in the finish, but it’d be hard to give this beer less with that absolutely wonderful richness.

Draught - tulip. Aged 1.5 years. On tap during the anniversary celebrations in Sept. 06. I think it was possibly the best experience I’ve ever had drinking beer. The only thing stopping me from giving it a solid 5 is that I could, conceivably, have something better someday.

A year and a half of aging in the keg! Smells like devils food cake, roasted coffee and almonds too. Black, fair sized espresso head. yards of lace! Full coffee flavour, dark chocolate and fudge. Really well balanced, bitter as can be. Wonderful!

UPDATED: SEP 21, 2006 Draught. At Dieu du Ciel. Opaque ruby-black with a decent lasting tan head. Deep dark roast malt aroma, hints of baker’s chocolate, roasted coffee beans, nutshells - very mysterious and restrained. Taste - oh, God this is good - smooth, dark and not very sweet at all but the bitterness is so restrained, as the aroma promises, that it’s balanced, creamy, with a long finish - wow. Thick, smooth and creamy body, lovely and long-finishing, only vaguely acidic and alcoholic. Top-notch, this is a winner.

Black body with a creamy moka head. Melted black bitter chocolate, cocoa, black forest cake, a little vanilla. Heavy dessert beer. The 8.5% remains totally hidden until the finale where it shows up just to leave a pleasant warm feeling. Easier to get broke than to get drunk on this thing, very $$$. Bottle at brewbub shared with red éric. Batch 51.

Beer aged for a year since april 2005 in 750ml bottle, batch 51, deep black color, with a frothy tan-colored head, cacao and vanilla notes, hint of black chocolate, black malt, hint of roastiness, and black coffee beans in the aroma follows through on a full-bodied palate with a sweet cacao chocolate character, hint of dark chocolate malt, with a touch of warming alcohol, black coffee accent, leading towards a sweet vanilla roastiness bitter finish.