Ok, only two more beers to go for this roundup of DFH beers, and I’ll be honest gentle readers, this one has me a little scared. Oh not because it’s some “totally out there” beer like Rocky Mountain Oyster beer or Beard beer. No, the beer in question is a simple fruit beer. Why the dread? Because so many people LOVE this beer.

So far I haven’t gotten a lot of negativity during this. I figured once I started poking DFH with a stick, the millions (AND MILLIONS!) of the brewery’s fans would gather and demand to know why I rated their particular beer so low. But so far the only thing that’s happened is two guys on Reddit stated that they loved Midas Touch, and another guy asked which ancient ales I preferred over Midas Touch. When I told him, he kindly thanked me for the information. That’s criticism I can take all day long.

Every year when Festina Peche is released people seem to go wild. They seek it. Buy it. Hoard it. Sing songs about it. Built monuments to it. Name babies after it. Ok, maybe that last one is an exaggeration, but man people around here do love them some peach.

And why not? After all, what’s the first state you think of when you think of peaches. Why, Delaw….GEORGIA? Who said, Georgia? Come on. Somebody fess up. Ok, fine. But we’re not continuing until someone comes clean.

And I have all day.

Nothing else to do.

Just waiting for someone to say something.

Ah, I though it was you. Well just so you know, although Georgia is the peach state it’s not the top peach producer in the US. And I’ll have you know that for part of the nineteenth century, Delaware was the number one producer of peaches in the US. How important was peach production to the state back in those days? Well, important enough that the state flower was designated the peach blossom, and the state dessert is peach pie. And of course the official state fruit is….strawberries. Hmmmm, ok we seemed to have missed the mark on that that one. Anyway, Middletown, Delaware still holds the Olde-Tyme Peach festival, as does the town of Wyoming. So although we may not be “GEORGIA”, we do have a little peach in our blood. But how about our beer? Is that really where we want our peach? Let’s taste.

Dogfish Head’s Festina Peche, $8.99 a 4-Pack

THEM: DFH describes FP as a neo-Berliner Weisse which is a wheat beer brewed with ale yeast; and Lactobacillus and Brettanomyces to give the beer its signature acidity and earthiness respectively. The beer can sometimes be served with a sweet syrup (such as raspberry) to balance out the sourness. But in the case of FP, DFH does it by adding peach puree. The beer clocks in at a non-threatening 4.5%ABV and has an almost non-existent 8IBUs.

ME: Peche pours golden with a quick energetic head that quickly fades. Man the peach is already jumping out of the glass and I haven’t even put my nose up to it yet. I’m finding the nose a little subdued, there’s not much beyond the peach to be honest. But there is that sourness in the nose to warn you of what’s to come and a touch of what I can best describe funk meets earthiness fall in love and have kids. This is really clean in the taste with the front being almost empty and the peach coming in the middle. There’s a slight sweetness from the peaches, but that gets clear out quick by the sour/tart finish like a NYC bouncer on a drunken patron. Right between the peach and the tartness however, is a flash of earthy/funky something that is distracting me from this beer for about 5 seconds.

My overall impression of this beer is that it’s interesting. It is definitely peach. But if you think this a glass of those sugar-water packed peach slices your mom used to put in your school lunch – you couldn’t be more off the mark. FP has a nice tart kick in the back end that not only serves to balance the beer out, but cleanses your palette at the same time. Personally I’d go GLASS on this one. It would be good to have from time to time, but nothing I’m overly crazy about. The earthiness was a little off for me, but since that’s a characteristic of a Berliner Weisse I certainly can’t say it shouldn’t be there. Maybe I should rate the style a GLASS, and the beer a 4-PACK? Naaaa. Sorry, just not for me I guess. Oh well, let the stone throwing commence (stone – peach pit, get it? Get it? Is this thing on?)

Time for another beer.

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