Postmodern Peach
Rhinegeist Brewery

As the sour ale program at Rhinegeist continues to strengthen, their patience is paying off. The addition of peaches to an month's long barrel aged sour ale allows the sourness, succulence and subtle funky freshness to emerge in a taste that's dragging traditional sour ale brewing into a postmodern world.

Postmodern Peach emerges from the cask with a hazy peachy-gold color that applies a foggy gaze on the glass. Its zesty white froth highlights the beer's expressive carbonation and its tangy, peppery scent. Stone fruits are on the precipice of the nose, along with citrus, cider, wine and an oaken, musty perfume. Supple sweetness transfers to the tongue with hard candy, light syrups, a wheaten undertow and light honey.

But the malt sweetness proves to be fast-feeting as the natural fruitiness swoons the middle palate with aspects of lime, crabapple, lemon, white grape and gooseberry. As the peaches quickly gain command of the taste, its branch-ripened flavors bring out a more nuanced flavors of mango, papaya, guava and apricot before the mild earthiness of pepper, brine, nutty oak and vinous spice takes an edge off of the fruit and assists with a balance of the beer.

Light, arid and crisp on the palate, the beer's nearly eruptive carbonation pops on the tastebuds and pushes the beer into a fast finish of fruit and peppery funk once more. A brief aftertaste of sourdough and bellini come to mind as another drink quickly beckons.