Named after the famed far-right wanker of Quebec, this leaves a bitter taste, indeed. Deep and dark, no light whatsoever. Goes down treacherously.

Bottle, 0.341l. Aroma of roasted malt, leather, faint smoke, wood and dark chocolate. Pours almost black color with medium sized light brown head, nice lacing and sparkling appearance. Taste starts with moderate sweet and rich roasted malt, smoke and leather, follows by chocolate, caramel and herbs with medicinal note, mouthfeel is warm and spicy, while finish is average bitter. Full body, thick texture and average carbonation in palate. Prominent member of all blacks...

Imperial stout by one of Québec's familiar craft beer names, longneck bottle from Beerdome. Thickly creamy, persistently membrane-lacing, dense, fluffy, deep greyish mocha-beige, stable head on a completely ink black beer. Powerful bouquet of strong black coffee, burnt toast, charcoal, unsugared black chocolate, marmite, gin, wormwood, black peppercorns, toasted walnuts, bonfire ashes, leather, hints of dried sage, salmiak, hard caramel, bee wax, burnt olive oil, bitterroot, some shoe polish. Dryish from the start, some raisin and dried date 'rotundity' with a sweetish core but quickly becoming drier, very light umami accents (black olive) and a deep, dim background tone of sourishness from the roasted grains, medium carbonated in a 'minute-bubbled' way so fit for the style; very full, oily but not overly viscous mouthfeel. Thick layers of toasted walnut-, bitter black chocolate- and eventually very strong black coffee-like 'black' maltiness build, completely filling the mouth cavity, with the sweetness remaining very restrained from the start and this deep, robust roasted bitterness dominating everything else, as in, again, very strong black coffee; a very firm dosis of peppery, wormwoody, leafy, rooty hop bitterness only enhances the overall bitter effect. Warming, gin-like alcohol is noticeable, but remains firmly in place; and with a very 'clean' yeast profile, only the malts (very roasty-bitter) and the hops (very peppery-bitter) are left to fill the stage, elegantly dancing with each other until the roastedness finally takes the lead and plunges deep into the abyss upon swallowing - thickly leaving behind a trail of profound bitterness, mitigated only by a deeply hidden core of nuttiness (I would not say sweetness in this case). Now this is old school imperial stout "pur sang": filled with roasted, coffee-like bitterness to the brim, I almost forgot how this amount of roastedness tastes simply because it has become so rare in these days of decadently sweet, elaborately pastry or near-pastry stouts. I never thought Dieu du Ciel could do this - or any 'Dieu' for that matter - but this beer instantly takes me back to my first venturings into stout territory, when most stouts (excluding English style milk stout) were heavily roasty-bitter, and the few imperial stouts available back then even more so. I guess eliciting this amount of nostalgia in me deserves an extra point. Impressive, though certainly not one for the broader, pastry loving geekdom.

И годовас

Trying to remember, I think this 11.5 oz bottle came from a late winter road trip to Santa Fe right before all the crap hit the fan. Label says bottling was on 10/24/16. In any case this is my first dance with Dieu Du Ciel. Let’s see how it goes. Poured into my Cowtown snifter I see a dark brown, one shade short of black, body with a light top of oily looking, tan foam. The scent, in one word, delightful. But then I point out my appreciation for imperial stouts in any case. Chocolate for sure, ash and some coffee working its way through. Very much an in-your-face taste. Strong with the charcoal, black licorice, dark plum and multigrain bread. Bitterness is way ahead of any sweetness. A nice one to sip and savor.

(Bottle) Pitch black colour with brief, foamy, beige head. Malty, roasted nose with strong black coffee, liquorice, black rye bread, dark chocolate and roasted nuts. Malty, roasted taste with notes of liquorice, black coffee, black rye bread, dark chocolate, prunes, roasted nuts and a generous coffee bitterness in the finish. Almost full body, quite sweet. Tasty, warming and really well balanced. Great beer!

Wie es sich für ein Imperial Stout gehört, hat es ordentlich Wumms. Nicht nur was den Alkoholgehalt berifft, sondern auch von Aromenseite. So hat es einen schönen schokoladigen Touch gemischt mit Röstmalz. Auch wenn es mir etwas zu bitter ist, so ist es doch ein tolles Bier.