Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel

Everyone has their own Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel to a certain degree. This is a brewery that I really wanted to enjoy. Their bottles have a cool late 19th century style to them, the contents are brewed with interesting ingredients and they have crazy French names. What's not to like? Well, for me, the flavor of their beer. I've reviewed a handful of their beers and sampled a few more on tap to see if there was a noticeable improvement. My conclusion was that I should stop wasting time and money on these beers. That was a little over two years ago. Last week I saw this bottle of Scotch Ale brewed with maple syrup and all was forgotten.

Today is the Winter Solstice so it's only fitting that I crack open a bottle of Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel's Solstice d'hiver. This beer is a 9.8% Barleywine, a style of beer that is almost as big on flavor as it is on alcohol. I haven't had much luck finding a Dieu Du Ciel beer I've liked so I'm holding out hope that this is the one. Barleywines are a style of beer I drink rather sparingly because of their incredible richness and double digit ABV. Will the planets align today, on the shortest day of the year? Will this Canadian Barleywine be a hit or a miss?

Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel's Route Des Épices packs a lot of flavor into a beer that's only 5% alcohol. This beer's flavor profile is deceptive though... while it tastes like a much bigger beer it flavors aren't really coming from fermentable sugars. Rather, this beer's flavor comes from a combination of hops (to a lesser extent) and peppercorns (which dominate your palate). I can't say I'm not surprised. After all, this beer's name translates as Spice Route. The spices in this beer aren't what you usually get when someone says a beer tastes spiced. Peppercorns are, well... peppery. This beer is so peppery that it really takes away from the other flavors in this beer. Malts, which are obvious on the nose, are barely noticeable when you take a drink of this beer.