While my wife and I were in Montreal last month, I picked up a case of Dieu du Ciel! bottles, after a wonderful tasting at the brew pub. I brought back some Péché Mortel and Dernière Volonté, both of which are bottle conditioned. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience aging these beers? They were both fantastic fresh, but I would like to enjoy them sparingly for years to come. Any advice would be appreciated. I would hate to sit on these, just to have them go bad. Thanks, Matt
I think people will tell you that with the Peche Mortel, if you sit on them too long the coffee aromas and flavors may diminish.
I have a good amount of Peche 1-3 years old, I find that the coffee doesn't fade as much as some people say it does and its actually quite nice with age on it. The Volonte I would drink fresh since it is quite hoppy I cant see it improving but if you have a lot of them I say what the hell and give it a shot.
I had a 2 year-cellared Peche and a regular within a week of each other. The coffee aroma stuck around pretty well in the aged version, but it was a bit missing in the flavor. I'd probably describe the coffee in the old as shallow (maybe?), and bold in the fresh. It wasn't a bad beer by any means, but I preferred the fresh. That being said, I'm not a huge coffee drinker personally, so I love coffee stouts (like Peche and Speedway) about 6 months in. The coffee just takes enough of a backseat to be balanced on my palate.
Their Solstice D'Hiver is a brilliant candidate for aging. I've got a 2008 sitting right now, after having a 2009 a few months ago I was really impressed with how it does.
I've had 5 year old Peche. It was different than fresh, but still amazing. The coffee had been turned down abit, but in its place came huge chocolate and dark fruit notes. I wouldn't worry about the beer drastically dropping off. At the Peche mortel anniversary day, the brewpub (I believe) had some original vintages. Regardless, if you ever run out, and would like to age some, BM me and we could set something up! Cheers!
