Dieu du Ciel Route des Épices

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

11.5 oz. pours brown with small head. aroma is pepper and some hint of sweet malt. mouthful is dry and full of pepper, and i love pepper. nice hints of fruit and spice come through. very enjoyable.

Bottle. Rich copper pour with a short beige head. Aroma instantly smacks of back pepper and it is dominant. Light fruit and some hints of caramel in the nose as well. Taste brings out more of the pepper. It’s actually "burning" the back of my throat and is very noticeable, almost to a flaw. Some rye notes, light caramel, hints of fruit, but this bottle is almost pure black pepper. Body is light-medium and rather bubbly. Ends with more pepper and spice, light rye and caramel. Maybe it was just my bottle but this was dominated too much by the black pepper and it basically made it less than enjoyable. I am willing to re-rate if another bottle is more balanced than this.

Pours a mahogany colour with a small white head that dissipates to a small ring quickly. Aroma is nutty and sweet. Hazelnuts, molasses, black pepper (enough to make me sneeze when I inhale deeply), whiskey, and a hint of dark berries on the nose. The palate brings a tun of black pepper, it rolls across the tongue and lingers nicely. Sweet nutty notes and molasses and rye sweetness balance out the black pepper. Mouth feel is nice. This beer is really interesting, but I’m glad I only have one. It does get pretty spicy after a while.

THOUGHTS: This was really different and extremely flavorful for something with only a 5% ABV. The peppercorn was way more noticeable than the rye. This was really nice, but with a tad less pepper it could be incredible, but then it wouldn’t be as unique. Oh, what a vicious circle. I think I’ll be getting more of this. I just which it wasn’t so expensive. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a hazy, dark, brownish amber with an average, off-white head that kept a nice sheet and left good lacing. The aroma was moderate caramel malt, mostly freshly ground pepper, ever so slight rye that was pretty much masked bye the pepper and light fruitiness. The initial flavor was sweet and lightly sour; while the finish was sweet acidic, lightly bitter and slightly sour with an average on flavor and long on burn finish. There was caramel, pepper flavor, slight rye, light fruit and pepper burn. The light to medium body was lightly syrupy, then fairly dry and quickly replaced by burning. It had fizzy carbonation and not much of a finish at first and then burning from the pepper.

Bottle courtesy of bu11zeye. Reddish pour. Sweet pour with a smooth touch. Taste almost has a mothballs feel to it. Eh. Huge peppercorn taste too it; almost bowls you over.

Bottle. Dark amber pour, little carbonation and some sweet brown sugar and malt aroma. Flavor was spicy, some tea flavor and finished with a bunch of pepper on the finish. Didn’t really enjoy this one.

11.5 oz bottle from Jihn’s Marketplace shared by Enniskillen. Nose is caramel malt, a hint of maple, some light fruitiness, and a hint of hops. Light brown with a small beige head. Flavor shows some breadiness and lots of black pepper. Finish is a light peppery burn at the back of the throat.

Notes from Zipps tasting, Fall 2008. Brown color. Dry malt and pepper in the back of the throat. Very little aroma, some malt. Not much to it besides some malt and pepper.