Dieu du Ciel Solstice d’Hiver

Brewed by Dieu du Ciel
Style: Barley Wine
Montreal, Canada

Serve in Snifter

Pours brown-red with a white beige head. Aroma is resin/herbal hops, caramel maltiness and an alcohol punch. Tastebuds are immediately hit hard by alcohol and hoppy bitterness. Beer is full-bodied; plum and cherry flavours dominate along with burnt malts. Slightly sweet. Finish is long, bitter and quite satisfying. Surprisingly little alcohol taste in the finish. Lovely, complex beer. My only complaint is the burnt malt taste is slightly overwhelming - I’d like to see a little more complexity in the maltiness.

Bottle: Thanks to VsXsV: Small vast creamy yellowish head that changes with subtle movements into a vast thicker lacing. The beer has a slight hazy red to ruby color. Smells like liquor: alcohol notes, sticky barleys and malts, some subtle sweet fruit and something floral. Seems the smell already gave some hints of how soft this beer will be. Taste is a bit strange but a strong, good and well balanced mix of: spices, sticky barleys and malts, fruit like prunes, dried peach, figs, caramel, warmth of alcohol, herbs, bitterness and a hints of something sweet and vanilla. The sweetness most likely comes from the fruity and sticky malt/barley touch and is far from overpowering or dominating. The bitterness is more present, still not entirely dominating and seems to have some kind of herbal/grassy and very light nasty bitterness hints. Warm grassy light barley aftertaste. Low carbo, soft almost silky mouthfeel, full body and a creamy texture. Decent beer. Though alcohol is present. Well balanced, though I got a bit irritated by the nasty bitter touch. But this beer hardly got anything to whine about! Of course it get’s better when warming up in it’s glass.

Good gods, what a lovely beer. Aroma is rich, sweet and fruity. I get grapes and candy and miscellaneous fruit in the nose. Pours a deep brown-red, not perfectly clear, with a low head. Flavour starts out sweet, with a fairly bitter and alcoholic finish. Very warning. Not exactly full-bodied, but definitely not light. This bottle was a Christmas gift from my sister in Montreal, but now that it’s at the LCBO, I’m definitely buying a four-pack. A superior barley wine. also a correction to the entry: the most recent batch is 10.2% AVB, not 9%.

pours almost an opaque dark burgundy.smells sweet,raisins,anise and cinnamon.taste is fantastic,same as the aromas only the anise doesnt stand out as much and getting a little pepper at the end.alchohol is pretty noticable and warming.hardly any carbonation with a full bodied oily mouthfeel.this is very nice and i would definetly get one of these and let it age.a must try

UPDATED: JAN 31, 2012 Bottle says 10.2% ABV. Pours a deep clear brown. Aroma of caramel, dark fruits, and brandy. Has a nice dark fruit taste up front, leading into some spices, and finally a slightly bitter warming alcohol finish. Little-to-no carbonation. Delicious!

26 jan 2012, bottle. dark nut brown, clear, no bubbles or head. meaty and raisiny. bran muffins. alcohol isn’t really noticeable. med/full body and a bit fizzy. very balanced flavors. some cherry, vanilla, meaty, raisin bran muffins, some dark chocolate, and alcohol comes out in finish. subtle for a barley wine. nice.

341ml bottle pours a reddish brown color with a finger of off-white head which leaves a few spots of lace. Aroma is light roasted malts and hints of earthy hops. Taste is malty sweet with hints of fruit and a pleasing hoppy bitterness. This brew is more complex than I can describe and just wonderful. A great barleywine and just a treasure to have sampled.

Deep copper color. The feel is very very rich, sweet but not heavy. Aromas of caramel, wood and hops. Reminds me of an english old ale in many ways. A remarkable barley wine.