Dogfish Head Festina Peche

Brewed by Dogfish Head Brewery
Style: Berliner Weisse
Milton, Delaware USA

Props to Jimbo for letting me try this. Life sometimes has a cyclical effect: Today I went surfing and had a great day. However, on one of my runs I misjudged what I was doing and totally ate it. I landed head first in the water and got a huge gulp of nasty Ocean water. This beer, oddly enough, had a similar taste. It was salty, somewhat sour, and really not what I expected. So, now, it’s going down my drain and will likely end up back in the ocean where it belongs.

Pours a slightly hazy orange with a reasonable head & some lace. Aroma is light citrus with a bit of spice. Taste is quite tart. Not a lot of wheat beer taste, but plenty of banana & cloves from the yeast. Unripe peach (peach-pit) notes, very subtle. Body is thin and extremely carbonated - a bit much. This was an... interesting beer. I’m glad Ratebeer classifies it as a Berliner Weisse, not only because I get my first rating for the style, but because it really didn’t seem fruity enough to make it a fruit beer. Thanks to my secret festivus santa, Ughsmash, for the trade!

Bottle... I have had this on tap but thought it was just as good in a bottle. Pours a hazy yellow color, not much head. Carbonated with a light texture. Flavor is a tart, peachy lemon flavor that I cant put exactly put my finger on. But overall a good summer time brew that I always look forward to!******UPDATE****** The more I have this, the more I like it. It is different then most beers. Light but still tasty, which makes it perfect for those hot days. It also introduced me to the world of Berliner Weisse beers. A summer time favorite for me that wont go out of style.

Draught at Blind Tiger. Hazy yellow to amber color, like pineapple juice, with a fizzing head. Aroma faintly of peach, with some yogurt and butter cookie (?) NICE puckering tartness in this one, with a bit of peachiness to balance it out. Lactic tartness really dominates here...but not overbearing and actually refreshing (think of biting into a grapefruit wedge). A touch of fruity, peachy sweetness is just enough to cut into the lactic acidity, but which still leaves that nice tartness that is supposed to define the peculiar style here. That being said, I personally might take just a small additional dab of syrup if I was in Berlin, but basically the sourness to sweet ratio is still nicely proportioned in the finished product.

Pours an eggshell white head that lasts as a ring and has legs. Body is hazy golden. Smells of farmhouse sour. Flavor is sour, lemon zest, some dried apricot and peach flavors. Finish is sour. Produces lots of saliva. Refreshing.

Bottle. Light notes of grain, lemon or grapefruit, cardboard and a faint fruitiness (peach?). Head is fizzy, white, with no lacing, and quickly and fully diminishes. Color is that of cloudy pee pee. flavor starts heavily acidic and finishes moderately acidic and bitter and a bit sour. Palate is light to medium, dry/watery and has a fizzy carbonation. It finishes moderately astringent. I was waiting for more to emerge from this Berliner Weisse, but the only thing I found interesting about it was the resemblance to Sweet-Tarts in the aftertaste.

Bottle. Pours a hazy pale yellow with a bone white head. Aromas of light sour, cooked peach juice and a bit of peach skin...light yeast and slight barnyard characteristics. Flavors of moderate sour, cooked peaches, sort of creamy dry malt, lemon, a tinge of funk as well. Fairly light bodied with a subdued yet tickling carbonation...sort of fruity sweet in the front with some light sourness...malty/lightly sweet/dry with a creamy spot in the middle with a sour/citrus dry finish. Pretty neat brew, the only thing that throws me off is the creamy character...overall though a nice change of pace from DFH, and while this reminds me a bit of the Festina Lente...it is no where near as sour.

Very sour, but not delivering on this sourness. Not much peach, but aroma is dogfood. Flavor is a sour flavor with not much delivery on the end.