Score: 88/100 – Great
From a 341ml bottle served warm at 14 degrees Celsius into a TeKu glass. Bottled on 2022-06-17 – making this around eight months old.
I picked up this beer more than a month ago from a local specialty shop. Grande Noirceur Rye is part of the Dieu du Ciel! Collection Hiver 2022 which had a spectacular lineup of beers.
In all honesty I already had a few of these and decided I need to pick up one more for a proper breview. Let’s get to it.
Appearance 6/6
The beer pours a clear black with 1.5cm of dense, creamy, dark brown head which dissipates into a partial film within 2+ minutes. Great lacing with decent head retention. A great looking stout.
Aroma 20/24
Strong intensity with sharp-ish balance. The aroma is almost pungent with massive barrel-character and dark malts.
Deep and musty oak links with spicy layers of vanilla, anise, and black pepper. Dark chocolate and burnt sugar add a perception of sweetness while coffee, earth, and tobacco contribute to more complexity. Mild pine along with herbaceous menthol cut through sweetness and contribute to a perfumy quality. A wisp of alcohol here and there.
The dry nose is rich and layered with notes of molasses, butterscotch, oak, anise, and chocolate.
Flavour 36/40
Strong intensity with bitter balance and aggressive perceived bitterness.
The intense palate opens up with alcohol-soaked dark fruit (prunes + dates), burnt sugar, damp/musty wood, anise, and vanilla – making way for a potent center where the barrel character and malts really drive the profile. Notes of musty oak, anise, alcohol, vanilla, pine, burnt dark fruit, coffee, chocolate, earth, menthol, and ash.
The long finish is strong and bitter with notes of burnt sugar, bourbon (oak + vanilla + alcohol), anise, moderate herbal-woody hops, low dark chocolate, and mild molasses. Staggering complexity.
Mouthfeel 10/10
Full body with moderate carbonation. The mouthfeel is heavy with oily slickness, plenty of creaminess, significant alcohol warming and a sweet finish. Mild astringency with no actual harshness on the palate.
Overall 16/20
Dieu du Ciel’s Grande Noirceur Rye is a great beer.
A good-looking stout with solid visual appeal. The head formation feels a little stifled and falling on the short side while collapsing relatively quickly. It does deserve full marks however. The nose is incredibly complex but I’m not loving all of it. I feel like this will not develop well over time as it will take on some type of rotten characteristics. The words enteric and fecal come to mind. The flavour follows with remarkable depth and richness of character, but I’m left with the feeling like something’s off. The mouthfeel delivers heavy impact on the palate without crossing over to harsh.
Overall, Dieu du Ciel’s Grande Noirceur Rye is a beer worth trying. The sheer amount of flavour for a 9% stout is astounding. There’s just something about it that I don’t love. Next up? The Péché Day 2023 pack!
Beerfection | Craft Beer Reviews | Montreal, Canada 