Dieu du Ciel Péché Mortel

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

Serve in Snifter

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Nov., 2004 bottling: Virtually opaque black. Big rich-tan bubbles condense into a fine layer of cream. Heavily charred aroma with tar, smoke, richly earthy java, burnt custard, and potting soil. Fairly phenolic. Pleasingly dense in body. Mostly soft and velvety carbonation, yet with a fine tingle of spritz. Opens with a poignant sting of char and a snappy but relaxed phenolic bite. Sneaky java intensity slowly develops an extremely smoky and nutty earthiness and glides down like liquid tar and burnt chocolate fudge. Bittersweet notes of unsweetened cocoa and black chocolate truffles fuse with well managed coffee- and malt-derived acidity to add more layers of depth. Rich java anchors the drier char elements and tugs the palate downward with significant force. Meaty as all get out. Tannic alcohol warms the body and lends dryness, but is otherwise a non-factor. Perceptible nuttiness and roasted grains complement the rounded inky and salmiakki overtones. Finishes with snippets of vinous acidity and ashen malt dryness, but otherwise decidedly punishing and potent with lingering espresso beans bathing in fudge and tar. This is a journey in a bottle. (9/4/8/4/17=4.2)

Draft: Dark brown. Creamy gray-tan foam. Bittersweet aroma of charcoal and coffee. Surprisingly simplistic. Somewhat dense in body, but overly gritty from the nitrogen. Initially nutty with roasted malts and softening hints of coconut milk. Mild buttery espresso flavor cuts the acidity and dryness from the heavily charred coffee character. Bittersweet chocolate center. Gobs of char flavors, ranging from burnt matchsticks to charcoal. Hint of crystallized sugar compounds the firm char. Moderately slick ink flavors. The coffee begs for some malt complexity to curtail its acridness, but it never arrives. Finishes dry and gradually more subdued in its intensity. After judging this from the bottle, where it really sparkles, I see no reason to nitrogenate this. (7/4/7/3/14=3.5)

Tap @ CBC. Deep brown color with no head. The nose is light bitter chocolate and roasted malts, booze-soaked wood. The taste is chocolate espresso beans, cherry liqueur, Very sweet and heavy. Brown sugar. The body’s full, plenty of sugar (diiiiabeetus!) and booze. Soft, viscous and oily. Very nice, though a bit flabby.

Tap @ Copenhagen Beer Celebration. Pours pitch black with a creamy tan head. Aroma of roasted malt, coffee, dark chocolate, nuts. Taste is roasted malts, coffee, dark chocolate, caramel, nougat, sweet chocolate ice, light booze. Full body, smooth creamy mouthfeel, low carbonation, light alcohol in the finish. 120512

Strong coffee smell, almost a bit of bourbon or dark chocolate. All follow in the taste, extremely dark, rich and strong. Almost impossible to stop drinking, one of the best stouts out there. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

On tap @ Copenhagen Beer Celebration. Pours a jet black body with a medium creamy beige head. Nose is intense mocha/filter coffee tones with powdery chocolate hints. Nice, but I’d like a bit more complexity. Taste is mocha, filter coffee, dark chocolate and hints of nougat. Velvety mouthfeel which feels occasionally disrupted by bursts of carbonation. Strange. A very nice coffee-based imp stout, but I do feel it’s a bit overrated.

Fantastic coffee stout. Rich earthy sweet coffee flavors along with some chocolate and toasted malts.

En riktig höjdare. Intensiv, kraftig och fyllig smak av framförallt kaffe och då menar jag kaffe på riktigt. Len och krämig och med en balanserad eftersmak. En liten efterrättspärla till stout.

Sample at Copenhagen Beer Celebration 2012. Black with a beige head of large bubbles that leaves behind dime nice lacing. Aroma is coffee, licorice, oak, vanilla. Medium body, slightly slick mouthfeel, bitter coffee finish. Taste is coffee, chocolate, vanilla, toast.

Black with nice tan head. Heavy coffee in the nose, roasted malty notes and chocolate and vanilla. Sweet and roasty, loads of coffee, some vanilla and nutty malts. Full to medium body, nice carb

Aroma, light with alcohol, roast coffee, pours black with persistent brown head with some lace. Taste coffee right up front with chocolate, malts. some alcohol comes through. Palate bitter, dry. Excellent imperial lives up to hype

(Sample from tap at CBC) Pours pitch black with medium, toffee head. Impressive retention and lace. Aroma is roasted malt, licorice, coffee and something chalky? Oily texture bordering on creamy, full body, soft carbonation and a dark, roasted finish.