Péché Mortel Moka
Brasserie Dieu du Ciel!

One year and a half old, this is another variation of their Peche Mortel stout with a strong coffee flavor balanced with chocolate. It's malty and sweet. Deliccious!

Dark brown with a moist tan head, low to moderate retention, no lacing. Coffee, cocoa powder, walnut. Moderate to thin body, light carbonation. Lovely series of stouts.

 

 

Got in a BIF from Coronaeus. 11.5 ounce bottle into signature tulip glass, bottled on 12/17/2018. Pours opaque pitch black color with a 2 finger dense and rocky tan head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Thick soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, dark roasted coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, and dark bread/crust; with lighter notes of vanilla, molasses, raisin, plum, fig, date, smoke, charcoal, wood, herbal, grass, pepper, pine, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/black/roast/bready malts, coffee, cocoa nibs, and light-moderate earthy hop notes; with big strength. Taste of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, dark roasted coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, and dark bread/crust; with lighter notes of vanilla, molasses, raisin, plum, fig, date, smoke, charcoal, wood, herbal, grass, pepper, pine, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Light pine, herbal, woody, grassy, peppery, charred, coffee bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, dark roasted coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, dark bread/crust, vanilla, molasses, dark fruits, smoke, charcoal, wood, herbal, grass, pepper, pine, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Incredible complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/black/roast/bready malts, coffee, and light-moderate earthy hop flavors; with a fantastic roast/hop/coffee bitter/sweet balance; with no cloying, acrid, astringent flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering hop/char/coffee bitterness. Medium carbonation and fairly full body; with a very smooth, creamy/silky/bready, and fairly sticky/chalky mouthfeel that is fantastic. Minimal warming alcohol for 9.5%. Overall this is an incredible imperial coffee stout! All around fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/black/roast/bready malts, coffee, and light-moderate earthy hop flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to drink for the big ABV, with the mellowly bitter/drying finish; fantastic soft feel. Amazing balanced rich malts, cocoa nibs, and and fruity/nutty coffee complexity; with solid earthy hop presence/balance. Light residual sweetness with lingering dryness. A highly enjoyable offering, and amazing top tier quality style example as expected. I liked this one just as much as the cherry, was far less bitter than the coconut for similar age. Still not as good as the base with age.

From a 341ml bottle, dated 12/17/18. Served in a tulip.

Pours chestnut-black with a fat finger of lumpy, lathery, cafe au lait-colored foam. The head holds for several minutes - until, in fact, I lose patience with it because I just want to drink the beer - settling into a creamy cap which slopes right up the sides of the glass in a heavy curtain of lacing.

Medium-robust aroma of cold cocoa. Cocoa dominates the nose with a minor whiff of coffee and a very slight metallic tang (probably owing to being a little too cold).

Tastes of Dutch-process cocoa, powdery, alkaline and bitter. Coffee character is minimal, more like tannic cold tea, roasted chicory, and green, unripened berry. Dry and bitter.

Feel is soft and talc-like, and no more than medium bodied. Carbonation is vigorous but unobtrusive and plays well with the powdery bitterness.

I found this to be a rather atypical Péché variant and, on strictly technical merits, probably not one of their best efforts. On the other hand, personally, I actually prefer big, dry, bitter stouts and this was all of that.

 

 

On tap at Thin Man Brewery in Buffalo, NY.

This one pours a fairly dark black color, with a small head, and not much lacing.

This smells like bitter and harsh coffee, a bit of fudgy chocolate, smoke, and roast.

This is better than the coconut, but it's still mighty disappointing compared to what this beer and its variants usually taste like. It's way too dry, and very thin. The coffee richness that's usually here is gone, replaced by a thin and wispy stale coffee taste. There's not much extra chocolate compared to how chocolatey the beer normally is.

This is thin, bitter, dry, and boozy, with not a ton of drinkability.

I enjoyed some aspects of this, but it was still overall a fairly significant disappointment.

This finishes extremely dry, a bit dusty, and quite bitter, with a somewhat thin body. It's not super drinkable.

 

On tap at Belmont Station.

Black with reddish highlights, this beer is capped with a disk of dark brown foam. The nose is dominated by coffee with a noticeable dark chocolate character along with a cacao nib like buttery note. Dark roast malt, including coffee grounds, chicory like bitterness, a mild dark fruit note. Nice. The palate opens bitter with lots of coffee, roast, dark, grainy bitterness. The base stout is so good, so classic. Cocoa, dark chocolate and again, a nib like buttery note adds a fullness to the palate that otherwise seems a little thin. Dark honey sweetness. Beautiful, long lasting finish with lingering coffee and cocoa. Bitter yet creamy, hefty yet light, this beer dances on the palate. Wonderful.

Serving: Bottle
Bottled: Dec-17-2018 (Consumed Mar-23-2019)


A:
It pours pitch black with a big tan head like foam insulation.  Excellent retention;  intense lacing. (4.5)

S:
Baker's chocolate, faint green pepper, coffee roast spice, brown sugar. (4.25)

T:
Dark chocolate, coffee, cocoa powder dry bitterness. (4)

M:
Big roasty and smooth with light alcohol warmth. Moderate carbonation. (4)

O:
Tasty chocolate stout.
Pours looking like most of these do. The aroma and flavor are pretty similar.
A little unsmooth compared to other variations. Big cacao flavor comes through and is both the main strength and the main weakness. (4)