Dogfish Head Festina Pêche

Dogfish Head Festina Peche. Photo: B. Yaeger

The sun is out and the Giants are over .500. A strange summer in The City indeed. So while a previous post about summer beers spotlighted locally brewed summer ales because the SF Beer Examiner typically keeps it local, anything goes this season.

When not-so-tiny Dogfish Head Brewery from the tiny state of Delaware entered the California market last year, it did so with a limited line-up of its "extreme" beers. Beers that range from 9-12% ABV. Now its seasonal offerings are being distributed here. So when a four-pack of Festina Pêche--a 4.5% ABV "neo-Berliner style Weisse" beer brewed with peach concentrate--showed up at Whole Foods, the summer sipper had to be sampled.

Berliner Weisses are not common, but are gaining traction in the craft beer world. Sour beers are all the rage! Brewed with wheat and malt, lactobacillus adds tartness, and the result is one seriously-flavorful beer that doesn't rely on heavy alcohol. In other words, the lacto, like Pablo Sandoval, steps up to the plate and delivers, not relying on a huge malt bill or an avalanche of hops to slug it out.

Casual fans of Hefeweizens or Witbiers be warned: this ain't no mild gateway beer. The aroma resembles a Pinot Grigio and the flavor is instantly reminiscent of a dry hard cider--peach or apple--but the 12-oz brown bottle reminds you this is still a beer. Still, slip this to a white wine drinker and see what happens. The beauty part is you can polish off the entire pack in one session and still keep a bit of edge (unlike downing, say, a couple bottles of DFH's Palo Santo Marron.) But this one would sooner pair with lemon chicken with capers over a stadium dog with relish.