RateBeer
Score
9891
OVERALLStyle
Brewed by Dieu du Ciel
Style: Barley Wine
Montreal, Canada
Serve in Snifter

bottled
common

on tap
available

Broad Distribution

Add Distribution Data
RATINGS: 617   WEIGHTED AVG: 3.73   SEASONAL: Winter   EST. CALORIES: 294   ABV: 9.8%
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COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION
This noble winter beer is brown in colour with flaming red highlights. Its taste is delicately sweet and liquor-like with a hint of burnt caramel coming from the malt and a prolonged boiling time. It is a very bitter beer with aromas of hops and alcohol, and flavours reminiscent of red fruit brought by the English-type yeast we use to ferment it. The aftertaste is accentuated by the wonderful flavour of hops. Solstice d’Hiver is brewed only once a year, and is then aged for 4 to 5 months before being sold. This aging process is necessary to achieve an ideal equilibrium between the sharp bitterness and the other flavours in the beer. After aging, it is then sold starting mid-December of each year, until stocks last.


4.5
   AROMA 7/10   APPEARANCE 5/5   TASTE 9/10   PALATE 5/5   OVERALL 19/20
damienv10 (108) - Chicago, USA - APR 27, 2009
When I think about a barley wine, this is what it looks like, even though most do not. Murky brown with a slight red shade and a tan head. Demure nose reminiscent of an abbey quadrupel, plum, apricot, fresh hops. Broad and sticky on the palate, decent acidity, very light carbonation. Massive flavors with lots of depth. Burnt orange peel, toffee, fennel, eucalyptus, clove, on and on. Very biting hops at the end balance the nearly sticky sweetness. This gentlemen, is bad-ass. Greatly underrated in it’s category.

2.8
   AROMA 6/10   APPEARANCE 3/5   TASTE 5/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 10/20
boxofrane (410) - pottstown, Pennsylvania, USA - MAY 25, 2012
Bottle. Pours mahogany with almost zero head, limited lacing, and a little rim of white-ness around the rim of the glass. This smells like an over-the-top bourbon beer with vanilla jumping down your nose. The taste on this is incredibly sweet with a little bit of that vanilla on the tongue. Palate was full but overall this beer was unenjoyable. this just isn’t my bag.

3.6
   AROMA 7/10   APPEARANCE 2/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 3/5   OVERALL 16/20
thunderhops (38) - Vermont, USA - MAY 24, 2012
UPDATED: MAY 27, 2012 yeast sweet alcoholic aroma pores murky brown with lots of floaties, taste sweet caramel, malty, bitter, somewhat sticky with slight alcohol burn on the finish very good Barley wine. I should clarify the "floaties" are from sediment in the bottle, which I didn’t expect in a barley wine, no less one that’s been aged 4 to 5 months.

3.2
   AROMA 6/10   APPEARANCE 5/5   TASTE 5/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 12/20
Arve_Christian (612) - Oslo, NORWAY - MAY 18, 2012
Backlog nov 2011 Amber, ok foam Full bodied and high complexity Sweet dried fruit aromos Enjoyable, but a bit too sweet

4
   AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 3/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 17/20
Westmeister (589) - Atlanta, Georgia, USA - MAY 8, 2012
Bottle. Pours a murky rust colored with smaller beige head and a fair amount of floaties. Smell is rich fig, caramel, chocolate, and sweet cystalized sugar. Taste is initally sweet caramel followed by dark fruits, chocolate, a little coffee and then finishes a tad boozy. Texture is very smooth and velvty. Really nice brew.

3.1
   AROMA 6/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 5/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 12/20
bunget (139) - Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA - MAY 6, 2012
341ml bottle. Dieu du Ciel pours a dense oily amber body with reddish tones. Nice big head for a barley wine, creamy mocha, with decent retention. Aroma is sweet and yeasty, with a good dose of hops, caramel, nice breadiness, floral, prunes. Taste is astringent, wormwood bitterness, good dose of malt, hops, late summer grass, late alcohol heat, aggressive hop aftertaste. Good.

4
   AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 16/20
DTM (608) - Winters, California, USA - APR 28, 2012
Bottle from Timfoolery. Pours a very dark brown. Very strong taste of carmel flavor. Full-bodied barleywine that goes down smooth without any alcohol burn.

4.3
   AROMA 9/10   APPEARANCE 5/5   TASTE 9/10   PALATE 5/5   OVERALL 15/20
solidfunk (656) - Ontario, CANADA - APR 25, 2012
Wow. Where do I start....Smells like raisins, honey. Head pretty much disappears right away, but who cares. Colour is a cloudy blood red/amber. Tastes like honey, strong alcohol disguised in a kind of almost grapefruit bitterness that has a good lasting power. A sexy, complex beer. Liked this more than Peche Mortal even.

3.9
   AROMA 7/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 16/20
umich03jm (179) - Michigan, USA - APR 22, 2012
Murky dark brown pour with a small amount of head. Nice lacing on the glass. Aroma is caramel and roasted malt. A little nuttiness and some sweet fruit too. Tastes almost like a brandy. Lots of caramel malt but the alcohol is present throughout but not overpowering. Hops come through a little in the end for a bittersweet finish. Pretty complex, I’ve not had a beer like this one. Very good sipper.

3
   AROMA 5/10   APPEARANCE 3/5   TASTE 6/10   PALATE 3/5   OVERALL 13/20
BartC (528) - Lichtaart, BELGIUM - APR 15, 2012
Dark brown beer with hardly any carbonation or head. Hardly any aroma. Strong taste of dark burned malts, some caramel and a lot of alcohol. Herbal, spicy but all ruined by the overwhelming alcohol warmth making it very unbalanced.

3
   AROMA 6/10   APPEARANCE 3/5   TASTE 7/10   PALATE 3/5   OVERALL 11/20
Darwenus (96) - Virginia, USA - APR 14, 2012
Not my kind of thing. The aroma was understated, not a lot there. Flavor was strong but somehow a little flat. Dry, kinda perfumey. Sort of an oily body. Alcohol a heavy presence on the exhale. I enjoyed the first half or so but was tired of it by the end.


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