Dieu du Ciel Retour aux Racines

Brewed by Dieu du Ciel
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Montreal, Canada

Serve in Lager glass, Tumbler

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UPDATED: SEP 21, 2006 Draught. At Dieu du Ciel. Hazy light orange with a small white head. The aroma is root beer and mild alcohol, some other sweet spices, and some sarsaparilla. Tastes like the aroma, with an interesting licorice character added, and more alcohol - average body, nice and lively, with a fresh invigorating herbal finish - not bad at all, quite a bit better than that Sam Adams Patriot RB ...

En fût au Dieu du Ciel. De couleur cuivrée foncée et voilée. Nez rappelant la « root beer », épicé (menthe médicinale, léger de muscade et notes de gingembre) léger de malt doux, sucré et terreux avec des notes de réglisse noire, de thé des bois et de houblon herbeux. Moyennement ronde en bouche avec un pétillement moyen-fort et une texture aux notes sirupeuses mais asséchantes. Goût épicé rappelant la racinette (menthe, léger de muscade, notes de gingembre) avec un léger goût de réglisse noire lors de l’entrée en bouche auquel se rajoute un goût malté de caramel doux assez sucré et légèrement terreux (notes de grains de malt pâle) accompagné de notes de pain puis en finale, l’on retrouve un goût léger-moyen amer de houblon très herbeux (racines fraîches) avec des notes de thé des bois et de muscade. Post-goût moyen-long et sec, légèrement amer de houblon herbeux, de racinette et avec des notes de thé des bois.

Pours a murky brown color with a thin offwhite head. Earthy, soily aroma and flavor of root beer. The body is medium with a creamy and chewy texture and lively carbonation. It’s interesting as an experiment but it’s disapointing since it’s an anniversary beer.

As an experiment, I think this was successful. It really does smell like what I would imagine a fermented root beer would be like. Earthy, menthol with licorice and spices in the nose. Opaque dark brown body topped by a low but lasting off white head. Minty and spicy with some biscuity malt character but overall this tastes like an earthy rootbeer. Sweetness becomes cloying as you drink more of it. Light medium body with lively carbonation that offsets the stickiness and prickles the tongue and cheeks. Obviously well-crafted and in that regard a success, but much as I loved the first few sips, I really had trouble finishing a half pint. Perhaps if it were simply less sticky and sweet... Sampled on tap at the brewpub.

Cloudy brown-orange body with a small off-white head. Ouch! As much as I want to love everything DDC puts out, especially the off-the-beaten-path stuff, this one really didn’t do it to me. Here’s my flavour list: Menthol, A&W root beer, cinnamon, medicine, nutmeg, mint, gingerbread man. As bad as it sounds. It took a table of six to make it through a single pint. If it was up to me this Back to the Roots (Retour Aux Racines) would be back to the drawing board.

Totally opaque, Sort of a dark brown with copper hints, with a steardy grey-brown head.
Really smells like root beer, but with a lot of menthol, it had almost a vapor-action thing going on, almost like Vicks vap-o-rub!
Again, it really tastes like root Beer (although I’m no expert, haven’t drank one in years in fact), with mint and ginger. Fresh aftertaste that really lasts, and decent enough body to hold it all together. I wasn’t expecting much (shame on my for doubting DDC) so I was suprised to see how fast my pint went down, which isn’t always the case with some of JF’s more quirky brews. I wouldn’t see myself session exclusively on this but I’ll totally have another if he makes this again.

Draught. Hazy brown dark copper coloured body with a white creamy head. The aroma is quite fresh and smells of root beer in a pleasant way unlike some of the other iterations that I’ve had. Spicey and potpourri-like. The flavour is of a similar stature - minty spice, licorice, creamy malt, cookies, and bready texture. Very good for what it is.

Aroma is Hires Rootbeer all the way! Cloudy copper, pours a small tan head. Tastes just like a Hires Rootbeer, and no alcohol is evident. Light bodied, sweet. Very novel and very nice!

Any first impressions?
-A rich head settles as a veil, creating moderate lacing around the hazy orange.
-Authentic salsaparilla root, candies and bubblegum leap through the nostrils, propagating their medecinal intensity to the furthest reaches of the brain.
-An earthy explosion of sweet, sweet, sweet medicine lathers the tongue.
-The active carbonation is apt as this is so sweet, spicy, and malty that effervescence is needed to keep all flavors in check.

What if you dig deeper?
-Minty herbs and antiphologistine firmly hypnotize the nostrils, and succeed in soothing any worried thoughts.
-The caramel/licorice sweetness within, and the herbal drying effect in the back don’t exactly harmonize, and thus render low drinkability.
-I now feel like I’ve been licking tree bark for a living.
-As is common for DDC, this is heavily flavorful and intelligently crafted, but in this case it will probably never get the hearts of craft beer lovers as we are just not used to such flavors in rootbeer; this is to rootbeer what an IPA is to non-alcoholic beer.

On tap at the brewpub.

Hazy brownish-orange hue, with a frothy beige head, the nose is one of leafy mint, mentos mint candy, with some medicinal herbs, sassafras herbal note, with some spicy accents of licorice, ginger, piney, earthy spruce roots, with a caramelized malt aroma follows through on a medium-bodied palate with a spicy gingerbread character, with a dose of medicinal herbs, hint of sassafras, nice nutmeg, cinnamon, licorice spiciness, fresh minty taste, with in a syrupy maltiness, leading towards a malty minty sprucy finish.

Hazy sunset pour with a delicate white cover. Very spicy nose with the characteristic rooty, earthy, woody aromas that are completed by spicy derivatives closing on mint and ginger. Limited hop presence, but the malts are solid and procure a good fit to the abundant, but well disposed carbonation that never bites. Gets a bit cloying as it warms, but at cool temperatures, the sweetness was not sticky, just fitting basically. Highly floral and gummy flavour developments. Fun experiment. Happy birthday.