{Update 12/13: Solstice d Hiver made it after all! Now available in some stores around the country]

[Update to this original Dieu du Ciel article]

(St. Jerome, QUEBEC) – Tough breaks happen from time to time, especially in the case of small artisanal brewers. Dieu du Ciel had planned to import two new beers to the U.S. this year, Rigor Mortis Abt and Solstice d’hiver, with the possibility of a third and fourth, Equinoxe du Printemps (Maple Scotch Ale) and Blanche Neige (Witbier), coming next year. These plans are now up in the air, however, with news that the batch of Solstice d Hiver planned for the U.S. experienced bottling issues and will no longer be coming. President, Stéphane Ostiguy, said that the brewery will re-focus its efforts on making sure that output of the regular lineup of beers is high enough to keep up with existing demand. More details below from Ostiguy…

“We have a really hard time at the moment keeping up with the demand for our Québec customers only. So it’s getting difficult to brew many strong beers that we planned to sell in the USA. We ordered new fermenters, but it will take 2 or 3 months before we receive them and that they are ready to use.

So, theorically, we should brew a batch of maple scotch ale for the US in January, and the beer should come out on the shelves in March. We should have time to brew it, but if we’re still running out of beer in Québec, we may not brew a batch for the USA

Blanche Neige will definitely not happen this year. For the same reasons as above.

We probably won’t have any Solstice d’hiver to send to the USA. We had a bottle refermentation problem with a batch of this beer, and won’t have time to brew another one. The beer from this ‘non-refermented’ batch was dedicated to the US market.

We still hope to be able to brew some Rigor Mortis Abt. If so, we should send some to USA, but it will probably be a small amount.”