Dieu du Ciel is a tiny micro-brewery in the heart of Montréal, Quebec. The most famous of their beers is Péché Mortel—or “Mortal Sin”—an extremely rich coffee imperial stout. Péché Mortel is one of the few beers to receive an A+ rating on BeerAdvocate and a 100pt score on RateBeer. You can read more about it here. Péché Mortel is sent to the US in small batches of 50 cases (or less) only a few times a year. Get it while you can!

Explore the rest of the line-up as well. We just love the beer names and, maybe more, the label art.

DIEU DU CIEL Péché Mortel (Mortal Sin)
DIEU DU CIEL Dernière Volonté (Last Will)
DIEU DU CIEL Corne du Diable (Devil’s Horn)
DIEU DU CIEL Route des épices (Spice Route)
DIEU DU CIEL Rosée d’Hibiscus (Pinkish Hibiscus)

Oh, happy day! This series of brews has been looking for a home for some time now, but it’s here. De Proef, headed by creative brewmaster Dick Naudts (aka The Prof), has put out a series of brews called the Brewmaster’s Collection. Five of the six offerings were selected for Michael Jackson’s Rare Beer Club. (We gushed about Signature Ale last year, which is a collaboration between Naudts and Port Brewing/Lost Abbey brewer, Tomme Arthur. “A complex hybrid of aggressively hopped west coast IPA, combined with traditional Belgian brettanomyces fermentation.”) Only one of the brews in the series didn’t make it this week, Lozen Boer Abt, but we should have it soon.

DE PROEF Signature Ale
DE PROEF La Grande Blanche Imperial White Ale
DE PROEF Reinaert Flemish Wild Ale
DE PROEF Saison Imperiale
DE PROEF Zoetzuur Flemish Ale

This week’s beer bounty includes a few new things as well as some returning small batches and seasonals. The return of Abita’s Strawberry Wheat marks the coming summer and the He’Brew Rejewvenator sounds really interesting for another fruit beer—”half doppelbock, half Belgian-inspired dubbel with the juice of the sacred fig.” Of course, DFH Immort Ale has returned, too. If you’ve never had it, well, you really should. For lager fans, Coney Island Lager is quite quaffable on these warming days, if it were not for the scary-ass clown on the label. *shudder* Scary, scary, scary, scary.

For barleywine fans, we finally got in La Baladin Xyauyù. (Xyauyù is allegedly the name of the brewer’s daughter’s imaginary friend.) This was on the beer flight of our Le Baladin dinner last year and it was amazing. But, be forewarned, this is a splurger. This batch was brewed in ‘05 and bottled in ‘07. For you brewers out there, here’s the scoop:

Teo’s objective is to allow Xyauyu to perfectly oxidize during the aging proces of 2.5 years (oxidation plays a critical role in aging port, sherry, as well as our vintage beers—too much oxidation will ruin the liquid—too little will not optimize the change in flavor / aroma during the aging process). Here’s how Teo’s system works: Xyauyu is transfered to a steel vessel with transparent membrane and a “oxygen hat.” After several tastings during the 2.5 year aging process Teo decides when it’s time to bottle (it all depends upon the oxidation velocity).

Also, new are two additions from Malheur—Dark Brut Reserve and Malheur 12°, both of which took home Silvers at the World Beer Cup ‘08.

ABITA Strawberry Harvest*
AVERY Karma*
CLIPPER CITY Heavy Seas Red Sky at Night*
DE LANTSHEER Malheur 12°
DE LANTSHEER Malheur Dark Brut Reserve
DOGFISH HEAD Immort Ale*
DOGFISH HEAD Palo Santo Maron*
FLYING DOG Garde Dog* (new spring seasonal!)
FLYING DOG Old Scratch Amber
JULIUS ECHTER Hefe-weizen
JULIUS ECHTER Hefe-weizen Dunkel
KAPUZINER Hefe-weizen
KAPUZINER Schwartz-weizen
LA BALADIN Xyauyù
SCHMALTZ BREWING He’Brew Coney Island Lager
SCHMALTZ BREWING He’Brew Rejewvenator

Congrats, Aaron!
Aaron Schenk, one of Asheville’s most awesome home brewers, won the Highland Cup with his Cream Ale. His beer will be brewed by Highland Brewing Co. and he gets an all-expenses paid trip to the GABF. Way to go!

Asheville Beer Blog returns
He’s back! And he reports that Green Man’s Abbey Ale is ready and on tap. This is a Chimay Grand Reserve clone and when we had it out of the tank even a month ago, it was delicious. Go get some at Dirty Jack’s.

Sam Adams bottle recall
If you’ve got any Sam Adams at home, check the bottles. If you see an N35 on embossed on the bottom, take it back to where you got it or throw it out. There could be fragments of glass in the bottle. There have been no reports of injury so far.

Ararat picked-up SBS Imports
Thank god! We have been waiting for this news. SBS handles all the special collaborations for the De Proef Brewmaster’s Series that started with the Tomme Arthur & Dirk Naudt’s Signature Ale. The next one we’re looking forward to is the Allagash/De Proef brew. It will be available through the Michael Jackson Rare Beer Club and in the market by next fall/winter.

While perusing the RateBeer forums, we found this gem of an auction on eBay. Complete with flashing Drudge lights and just about all the animated .gif’s you can handle!

(Yes, we actually did tag this under Rarerities.)