WILK Friday BeerBuzz–19 Aug 2011 (Dogfish Head Festina Peche)

It’s never easy returning from vacation, especially when you spend a week sipping great beers on an amazing beach…but what better way to return than to bring a great summer ale onto the Friday BeerBuzz.

This week I wanted to roll out one last summer beer, but in fine mybeerbuzz style…not just any summer beer.  This week we rolled out Dogfish Head’s summer seasonal Festina Peche.  This non traditional or neo-BerlinerWeisse as DFH calls it, is a really interesting beer.  Festina is a wheat based beer, and uses a considerable amount of fresh peaches, but don’t expect a sweet-peachy-wheat.  This is a BerlinerWeisse so it is tart or even acidic /sour to some palates.

Brewmaster Sam Calagione says he’s backed off the level of tartness by reducing the lactic cultures used in fermentation and bouncing up the amount of peaches, and I’d say he hit I just right.  Last year’s Festina Peche was considerably more sour and a lot less peach flavored.  This year the balance allows the fresh peach flavor to shine through without losing the tart/sour character a fine BerlinerWeisse should have.

Traditionally, a BerlinerWeisse would be served with the addition of herbs, woodruff syrup or even raspberry syrup.  According to Sam, Festina Peche doesn’t need that, so in find mybeerbuzz tradition, we decided to add some raspberry syrup to see for ourselves.  Naturally there’s a delicate balance as to how much to add, so if you try this yourself, be sure to test different amounts.  How Was It?  Well it was good, although the syrup did reduce the tart edge, perhaps even a little too much.

With or without syrup, be sure to try Festina Peche…it’s a great summer beer and I think Sam really nailed the 2011 version. 
Thanks
to Nancy, John, Joe, and Bosco for yet another fun Friday. 
The Friday BeerBuzz…bringing good beers and good people together. 
As always you can check out the video on-line at the WILK Friday BeerBuzz page by clicking HERE