Dieu du Ciel Route des Épices

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

11.5 oz. bottle that I received as a "beer of the month selection." Pours a clear dark amber with a moderate linen white head that lasted through two-thirds of the glass and left partial lace. Pleasant aroma of rye and black pepper. The flavor begins with rye and caramel. After a few seconds, a wash of peppercorn heat builds to a crescendo at the swallow, and lingers for another 15 seconds or so beyond the swallow. Wow! I have to say, I am not a huge fan of black pepper, but it really worked for me in this beer. I don’t know that it would be something I could drink every day, but as a change of pace, it was terrific!

Deep dark amber/coper coloured body with a perfect dense tan head. Aroma of strong caramel, apples, roasted malt, alcohol, curacao, fresh hops and oddly enough, just ground pepper. Medium-bodied; Strong alcohol flavour up front with hops and curacao also strong. Tons of pepper tastes up front mellowing out to a nice bitterness overtaking the alcohol. Aftertaste has plenty of spice, roasted malt and a dose of hops. Overall, a nice and interesting beer - the pepper without a doubt stood out - come to find out, it’s brewed with it and rye (which I didn’t notice any of). I sampled this 330 mL bottle purchased from Chevy Chase Wine & Liquors in Washington, D.C. on 03-May-2008.

Spice and pepper all over the place. Full malt backbone that is totally dominated by big peppercorn and a sharp rye bite. Interesting.

Taste 7/8 bottle(date?) Looks: Nice dark amber/brown with sticky thin head. Aroma: Wow, I love pepper, and this delivers. Caramel. Tastes: Nice and present malt with a nice spice bite. Thin body. I you don’t like pepper you’ll hate it. If you like pepper you’ll like or love it. Well crafted. Would be great to cook with as long as you adjusted ingredients.

This is a great beer! It has a great mouth feel with deep coffee flavor but not too bitter. Then a great caramel richness just under the spices or peppercorns. This is an amazing beer and that’s not just the beer talking.

12 oz bottle, via cloudskipper. Pours a clear dark amber body with a nice two finger beige fluffy head. Slightly sweet nose with some rye and black pepper accents, a little bit of caramel. At first there’s just a bit of earthy rye coming out, then you’re just overpowered by huge intensely hot black peppercorns. It actually burns a little bit on the finish, the pepper is that pervasive. Some underlying sweet malt hiding in the background. This is almost too much pepper to take. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with a touch of clinginess and moderate fizzy carbonation. This would go really well with a peppered burger, but otherwise I think that it would overpower almost anything else you’s eat with it. Damn this is a weird beer. Not so sure I could ever drink more than one of these.

341mL bottle from a sixer, brought back to me by my parents from a trip I couldn’t go on. Pours a dark red with a burgundy hue. Huge tan head. Aroma is mostly just some indistinct malts, no real hint of what is to come other than some mild pepper. Flavour is an experience, to say the least, starts out nice and sweet, some nice roasty caramel malts, a little rye, and then WHAM my tongue is hit with peppery spicey hottness that takes over and defines the finish and aftertaste. Wow, weird, unlike anything I’ve had before. I honestly don’t even know what to make of this. As it warms the aroma of black pepper corns eminates from the glass more and more. I’ll give it points for originality, and I’m sure people who love spicy things would get a huge kick out of this, but I’m not entirely sure it’s my thing. Interesting experience though.

Shared with a friend, sample from a BOMC. A very out of the ordinary brew. Dark amber beer with a creamy off white head. Spicy caramel malt aroma. Flavor starts with the rye malt, semi-sweet and spicy… then the pepper comes on and leaves a lasting burn at the finish. A very odd concoction. Very well made and enjoyable to sample but there was enough pepper in just one to hold me for a long time.