Dogfish Head Festina Lente

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

Madness@the Moose YEHA. Bottle provided by egajdzis, thanks Eric. Pours a cloudy pale murky color. Aroma is strong on dry peach skins, smells very FUZZY. Taste is light sour akin to fruit-vinegar. A nice beer with light sourness all around and a nice peach aspect on the nose.

Botte courtesy of KieferUGA, in honor of his impending 100th rating. Poured a slightly hazy orange gold with a smallish white head. Aroma of peaches, lemon and yeast; with time became more earthy and slightly grassy. Very was sour flavor, probably one of the most sour beers I have tasted. Lemon was the most pronounced beer, followed by wild yeast with hints of lemon. Palate was soft. Long lasting finish. Not usually a fan of sour beers, but this was enjoyable.

(750ml Bottle) Pours a cloudy golden body with a small white head. Aroma of lemon, earthiness, grapefruit, pear, and apple. Flavor is mildly tart with peach, light lemon, and earthiness with a dry finish.

Bottle. Sampled most recently at the BA "Night of the Funk" 10/26/07. Poured hazy golden, with a small off-white head. Tart, musty peach aroma. Very tart, acidic flavor, which is well complimented by the peaches. Soft carbonation. Long lactic finish. I enjoyed this beer several times since it was released in Fall 2003, and I think it even better now with some age.

I was fortunate enough to get to glass of this at Falling Rock during GABF 2007. Flavor was very tart, more so than the Festina Peche, and had a light peach flavor in the background.

Sampled from a 750 ml brown bottle this beer poured a cloudy orange-golden color with a small yellow-white head. The aroma was tart, tangy and had a sour peach element. The flavor was sour, tart and surprisingly dry with an odd peach like presence. A bit thin in the body. This one was ok but did not do a whole lot for me.

Date: 06/21/2007
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Pre-RBSG

cloudy orange, scant head, tart malt aroma with a lemony character, creamy body, lots of tart malt flavor, good lemon character, tartness lasts through a long bitter finish

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.3/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: *4

2004 vintage sampled in 05. Pours a cloudy straw/peach with ruby red hues, blended seemlessly in, with glowing yellow edging. Ample carbonation forms a tall white head that fades away instantly and completely, no lacing as the glass drains. Acidic fruits and a glaze of old hops(just a touch) usher in the aroma. Oak notes are plentiful but don’t compromise any of the zesty fruitiness. Yeast esters amalgamate to form a funky underbelly, tying fruit notes and wood together and giving this an air of authenticity, very nicely played. Peach is relatively mild, as is the aroma as a whole, though it’s nothing to squander enjoyment and it certainly isn’t hard to pick apart. Higher alcohol is a non-factor, another hand well-played. The flavor is dramatic, very sour and filled with tartness and wild yeast, oak protruding from each sip with a jagged edge, peach nectar scoring a point for its coarse beeline for the tastebuds it’s about to soothe. Carbonation is very soft and doesn’t disperse the flavors across the palate, so the weight of the acidity stings moreso with each compounding sip. Sweetness is medium-high, acidity very high, bitterness low and when it’s all said and done, this really feels like a barrel-aged, spontaneously fermented peach lambic from a farm in the middle-of-nowhere in Belgium. Bravo for getting it right. It’s not as complex as a Cantillon or the like and certainly doesn’t belt the senses with a funkdafied assault, but it is acceptable and very enjoyable, really quenching too due to awesome sourness. The finish is brief and as fruit fades away, there’s really not much left other than hints of wood grain and spent yeast. Alcohol does warm slightly after a few sips. The mouthfeel is very lightly carbonated, prickly, balanced in body, never too thick or thin. Very impressive. Older samples didn’t hold up very well, but I’m not rating those; I’d prefer to keep the memory of something tasty on record.