Dogfish Head Festina Peche

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

Finally, after many months of longing for this beer, my guy at Perry’s carries it so I scooped up a sixer. Very refreshing, bright flavors with a assertive tartness that is quite quenching. The body is a cloudy light orange color, with a light fluffy white head. Subtle carbonation present. Aroma is light wheat with just a hint of sweetness. Flavor is crackling with tartness, and that’s the note that is most prononced. Very soft peach (almost like under-ripe peaches) with a jaw clenching finish. Mouthfeel is prickly and lively. Kudos to DFH.

From a 12oz Bottle. Courtesy of CharlesDarwin. Pours a pale dandelion yellow color, mostly hazy, with a thin layer of small bubbled white foam. The peach notes come through softly in the nose, lying behind a grapey pinot grigio bouquet. Quite light and vinous, like a quenching summer wine. The wheat malt creamy characters come through as well, creating an additional level of aroma complexity. Light bodied, deceiving mouthfeel that’s both crisp with acidity and soft with wheaty malt. It’s actually very pleasing up front, with lots of acidic peaches softened by a nice, creamy wheat. Not overly sour or funky, allowing the lactic acidity to contribute mainly to the mouthfeel and refreshing drinkability. I was afraid this beer would be too peachy, but the fruit is actually not the focal point of the beer. Dry and refreshing. Like many DFH beers, an "imperial" rendition of the style, but unlike many other DFH beers, this actually works really well for me. This might be the best DFH beer I’ve had. Thanks, Tom!

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.

This is a very cool and interesting flavored weisse beer. This has a bit more of the fruit flavor than most DFH beers. It has a deep aromas of peach on the nose followed buy the typical Weiise notes. The mouthfeel is quite tart and resonates of heavy peach notes. Pretty cool stuff!

Aroma is a sour fruity scent. Color is a hazy pale yellow with very good carbonation but no head. Taste is sharp and fruity. Starting with a light body it goes down with a sharp feel. Finish comes in with a crisp sweetness that has a slight peach taste to it. After taste is tart and dry. This is the first Berliner Weisse I have had and after some research this is an excellent one. It tasty, refreshing, somewhat complex and it fits what a Berliner Weisse should be

Poured a golden-white cloudy (think witbier) color. Aroma was tart lemons and light peach. The flavor was wheaty/bready, tart lemons, sour peaches, all working together nicely. I’d rather have one of these than those syrupey, shultheiss beers, as this at least stays tart, somewhat analogous to cantillon and lambics vs. lindeman’s and lambics. At-a-boys, DFH! Light, crisp and refreshing mouthfeel and finish. (Rating reflects multiple bottles, and two separate tap experiences, one at SL, the other at DFH in Rehobeth.) Re-rate, 8/08, in a horizontal against Kindl, 1809, and Bahnhof: Pretty solid stuff, right up there with 1809, except this of course had some peachy notes that made it hard to compare one on one. The tart peach was a great combo with the style, and as stated before, this is far superior to any syrup mix with a straight BWeisse. Slight bump up in numbers.

On tap, Downtown Bar in Bkly. Delicious, tart, lactic, not too peachy. No head. Really lovely and after the tartness passes, has a nice complexity.

Sample from growler filling station at Shorline Beverage in Huntington Station NY. Pours a cloudy yellow color with a very nice white head. Aroma was filled with perfumey peaches... almost like peach candy, sorta surreal. Flavor was pleasant with some tingly acidity on entry and fading into a mellow round soft peach character in the finish. Some hints of malt mix with the peach mid-palate and hints of lactic acidity along with residual peach flavor in the finish. Not an overabundant wild character, but definitely present. Mouthfeel features a somewhat creamy body that is cut by the acidity. Some residual gravity seems attributable to the peaches beacuse as the acidity fades, the peach presence is similar to the residual mouthfeel of an actual peach. Overall, a very nice beer! Highly enjoyable and very appropiate for a warm summer evening. Wish I had got the full growler rather than the 10oz sample.