Dogfish Head Festina Lente

Formerly brewed at Dogfish Head Brewery
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Milton, Delaware USA

Explosive cork removal. Rich, clear yellow. Tightly-packed white bubbles. Gorgeous aroma of rose petals, soft peach, and chalky yeast. Faint notes of iron and brettanomyces. Crisp, yet somewhat fuzzy, carbonation. Clingy, syrupy body. Immediate, face-puckering tartness sucks the palate completely dry. Vibrant and rounded peach flavors provide the perfect touch of sweetness, highlighting the acidity, throughout. Quickly vanishing bacteria flavor. There’s good complexity to the tartness, but the oak fails to lend substantial depth. Hints of mineral astringency and herbal yeast creep in late amid the husky, extremely subtle pale malt sweetness. Clean, but fairly nonexistent, backdrop of muted peach, iron, and brett. Lovely aftertaste of white peaches lightly dusted with crushed pale malt. Tasty yeast pour intensifies the tartness and chalky dryness. This’ll be a beauty to behold many years from now. Even without a significant oak foundation, this is simply a skillful creation...and worlds beyond a “neo-lambic.”

Draught at Belgian Beer Fest. Deep rusty/peach color, orange-yellow quite transluscent and thick looking. No head. Aroma has some acidic citrus notes, sour peaches, tart and estery. Definitely detect the dry oaky notes as well. Flavor starts out lightly sour, waning in to the peach flavor which is not overdone and not sweet like Lindemans pecheresse. No carbonation, but that’s quite fine with me, no need for it really. The sourness is fairly shortlived, and after the peach flavors, most of the body is finished. Light wood notes linger, some residual sugar. Medium-light bodied, quick finishing. What is impressive is that this is an American made lambic. I give DFH a lot of credit for producing this.

Poured a cloudy dark straw color. Aroma is sour and fruity. Mostly peach. Tangy and tart peach and fruit flavors. Light bodied medium finish.

Hazy golden color with a good sized white head. Funky, fruity aroma of peaches and citrus. Much more tart than expected from the aroma. Tastes a little like a tart peach cider. Very refreshing. I’m surprised at the fairly low scores for this one.

10.31.04 750ml bottle. Another treat from an unknown benefactor at the Heavyweight open hosue. Light in color, golden; big-time head of white foam. Aromas of fruit salad syrup, peach. Sour and tart flavors dominate Shockingly fresh tasting, unripe fruits, sharp and crisp. A very pleasant surprise -- not your typical DFH brew, whatever that is.

Hazy light golden with a frothy, lightly-lacing, white head. Has an interesting aroma that reminded me of a grilled sirloin steak, turning slightly more tart, mildly fruity and peachy. Starts with a touch of Belgian yeast, semi-sweet peaches, and turns more sour and dry toward a tart and warmingly acidic finish. Has very nice authenticity and there was no problem with the carbonation. I was quite surprised, but I think this one must’ve vastly improved since it was released.

Aroma is moderately sour with no evident spice. Pear and lemon more than peach coming thru in the flavor. This is really a simple tasting beer, with basic tartness and fruitiness. Not over-the-top in any way. Overall, refreshing and worthwhile.

Ommegang fest. Light ly hazy gold lambic with a light peach aroma. nice lactic and peachy taste with a light yet pleasant body. But overall , disapointing.