Dieu du Ciel's Équinoxe du Printemps Scotch Ale à l'érable


As you can easily tell in my photo - it's not spring and spring will likely never happen at this point... so why am I drinking a "Spring Equinox" beer? Because I can, and because I love maple! Équinoxe du Printemps is a Maple Scotch Ale by the folks over at Dieu du Ciel. It tops out at 9.1% so it's going a bit buzzy for me!

Appearance: The beer pours a very muddy, thick brown ale with a great amount of microcarbonation, a decent amount of yellowish beige head that goes absolutely nowhere - except to leave a bit of film residue on the side of the glass.

Aroma: This really is a scotch ale. The first thing I notice about the aroma is a heavy caramel/scotch aroma, overly sweet and desserty - perfect for a snowed in kind of day like today. A bit of a metallic smell to it, earthy hops and just a touch of maple syrup.

Taste: Insanely boozey the second it hits my palate, it's a hit of alcohol burn followed by a combination of caramel and maple syrup sweetness. The sweetness quickly diminishes leaving behind a bit of a bitter roasted malt aftertaste. Not as thick on the mouthfeel as I would think, it's fairly light. It's reminiscent to soft caramel candies as well as tire sur neige. Hint of dark fruits such as plums and raisins.

Overall Thoughts: I'm a maple syrup connoisseur so I was hoping for more of a syrupy goodness from the maple but it's certainly noticeable. Solid scotch ale - it's been quite a while since I've last had a scotch ale. It's moderately sweet but leaves a bitter, roasty aftertaste.

http://dieuduciel.com/categories/en-bouteille/#equinoxe-du-printemps

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