Dieu du Ciel Solstice d’Hiver

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

Serve in Snifter

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9mo aged cask at the brewpub, DDC 9th anniversary Appearance: Russet orange no head. Aroma: Vinous with malt, alcohol and strong caramel nose. Flavour: Sweet and very smooth with a strong winey alcohol character. Caramel and butterscotch all over. Mouthfeel: Light carbonation smooth mouthfeel but quite alcoholic. Overall: Warmong with some strong butterscotch and caramel to balance out the malty sweetness. Alcohol character is vinous and warming. Give it a bit more anging and could be quite promising. Probably suffers from being too young.

On tap at the brewpub, visited June 23 2007 with a big group of friends (no fellow rateberrieans though). Deep bronzy amber, hazy, thin off-white head, a little chunkiness to it. Woody caramel aroma, maybe a little scotchy even. Sweet palate with caramel, figgy fruit, earthy/leafy notes-- complex! Full bodied and silky smooth. A terrific sipper!

From a 22oz Bottle. Transparent, ruddy amber colored pour with a thin layer of wispy off-white head laying lazily on top. A little bit of sharp varnishy alcohols grab me by the nose right away, taking me by a bit of a surprise. Moving onward, lots of caramelized raisins and toasted pecan pralines create a satisfying enough malt base. A touch of brandy and lightly toasted coconut husks come forth as well. Medium bodied, lightly carbonated mouthfeel. Sweet toasted caramel flavors with some drier macadamia nut flavors. A flavor wave of vanilla and freshly shaved coconut add some creaminess to the nutty malt base. Lots of dry bitter hops lurking on the backend. Could really stand to use a bit more carbonation to give the malt flavors more chewiness, creamy texture, and liven up the palate a bit. Thanks for sharing, Clark!

660mL bottle, bottling number 62, if I remember correctly (probably don’t), with some 9 months of age on it, I believe. Shared at PP 12 hour fest on 3/24/07
Encouraging head is medium-dark beige and initially two fingers high. I’d had less than stellar retention/formation with an even fresher bottle of their double IPA, so it’s good to see the carbonation hold up readily in this one. Body is a bright auburn-mahogany with some dark cola tints and a high clarity. Light lacing produced as well.
Lovely nose reminiscent of English barleywines. Rich nougat and sweet toffee provide a unique experience in place of the usual caramel and pale malt dominance. Almost a hint of hazelnut, with sweet raisins and dates adding more interesting malt character. Very clean and polished, and with a gentle warming character on the end. Light vanilla and more rich nougat emerge with warming, with a surprising surge of cherry esters that pleasantly balance this strong, but enjoyable maltiness.
These arent bottle conditioned, to my knowledge, but are bottled more or less unfiltered. The carbonation levels are definitely low, though for an English-style barleywine, it’s not too big a problem. Lots of nuttiness at first, is unexpected, with a more dry feel overall. Creamy pale malt sugars and finally some of the toffee/nougat seen from the nose build up on the finish, but it’s just a touch too dry/thinned out in the middle, thanks to a lot of doppelbock-like breadiness. Kind of confusing and takes away from the softness and chewiness of the texture, I think. Additional notes of light vanilla, with the toffee still lingering on the end, sweetly. Some minor alcohol apparency and minor fruitiness. Smooth, rather neutral texture could stand to have a bit more to sink your teeth in to, but at least the beer never cloys or becomes syrupy, despite the low carbonation.

UPDATED: APR 20, 2012 Pour from a 22oz Bottle. Thanks Clark! Aroma pours forh as a brandied caramel domain, backed up by apple cores and sweet orange juice. Light heat. A nicely nuanced and subtle aroma. Pours in orange and amber, with a thin rim of off-white. Dense caramel sugar flavor, somewhat middle. Good malt character in sweet milk caramel and toasted grains. Sweet and bready. Hop presence alights towards the backend as a leafy hop cone grass. Nice balance and well built. Nice dense cream malt character on the front end, runs nicely with good alcohol and hop levels. Finishes along a wispy of English toffee candies and nip of espresso. Thanks a million Clark.

Sampler, draught, savoured on site on December 28 2006; eye: dark brown with caramel reflections, tiny ring of white foam around the glass, no effervescence; nose: malt,alcohol, caramel; mouth: caramelized malt, alcohol, light bitterness, finale in a big fat caramelized malt with a hint of pepper and and underlay of alcohol, alcoholic texture, full body, lots of alcohol, mildly sweet, bitter and carboanted FRANÇAIS Échantillon, en fût, savourée sur place le 28 décembre 2006; oeil : brune foncée, légèrement voilée avec des reflets caramel, petit anneau de mousse blanc, pas d’effervescence; nez : malt, alcool, caramel; bouche : malt caramélisé, alcool, légère amertume, finale en gros malt caramélisé avec une pointe de poivre et une sous-couche d’alcool, texture alcoolique, corsée, assez alcoolisée, moyennement sucrée, amère et carbonatée

brown with maybe a hint of amber when the light shines through. strong malt flavours - caramel, etc. interesting beer.

UPDATED: SEP 21, 2006 Draught (cask). At Dieu du Ciel. This was the LAST glass left from the anniversary party over the weekend, cask-aged for 3 years. Poured bright slightly hazy ruby with a 2 inger lasting creamy mottled white/beige head. Very subtle aroma, sweet and resiny, alcoholic but muted, slight woody funkiness to it. Taste? Smooooooth! soft resiny hop bitterness, moderately alcoholic, woody and leafy sweet malt - then as it warms the alcohol and bitterness slowly ramp up to a long, complex finish. The body was actually a tad light, but solid astringent/acidic/alcoholic mouthfeel, very soft on the palate - Smooth, subtle, elegant even - excellent.

UPDATED: JAN 16, 2007 Clear mahogany body with a medium off white head. Caramelized and smoked malts/barleys, creamy brown sugar, very hoppy. Alcohol is not too warming and its presence is what it should be at 9%. One of the most easy to drink barley wine I’ve had. Advertised in the brewpub as “aged 1 year in keg”. Previous batches had different aging specifications and even slightly different alcohol%. My bad memory prevents me remembering how the previous batches compared to this one. But if they were even better I’ll put off my world domination plan and re-start working on my time travelling machine.

UPDATED: AUG 9, 2007 Au maître-brasseur de Dieu du Ciel, tu es un DIEU! Un bon goût de fruit et de caramel brulé. Je jouissais à chaque gorgé!