Dogfish Head Festina Pêche

Our tour of great summer beers continues with Dogfish’s version of a Berliner Weisse. This tart wheat beer style, a traditional summertime treat in Berlin, is generally doctored with woodruff or raspberry syrup for added sweetness. But there’s no need to add syrup to your bottle of Festina Pêche. It’s sweet and fruity already because it’s fermented with peaches! It’s a classic Berliner Weisse in a lot of ways. It’s crisp and intensely tart, with a green apple like character derived from fermentation with lactic cultures. At only 4.5 percent ABV and a mere 8 IBU, it’s the very definition of a “light” summertime beer. It was made to be consumed two or three bottles at a time. The twist, then, is that the peaches take this particular Berliner Weisse to a whole new level. The classic sour snap is still there, but it’s balanced by a nice peachy tang. Whether you treat it as a “dessert” beer or simply gulp it like a maniac after coming in from mowing the lawn on a 90 degree day, Festina Pêche is an absolute essential of summertime beer drinking.