Cellaring Dogfish Head Festina Peche

I had a four pack from last year in April. The beer held up really well considering the low ABV. The sour didn't seem to really change much but the peach was pretty much gone. I liked it a lot but only because I was craving something sour and the weather was a perfect fit for it. It hits the spot on a hot summer day.

On a side note, I have heard it can become similar to vinegar. I don't know what conditions they were kept in though. I hope this helps OP.

 

I found this thread shortly after posting. I'm not sure if this helps or if this is what got you curious about cellaring Festina Pechê.

http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/how-do-berliner-weisses-cellar.34203/

 

I'm doing a 3 year vertical of DFH FP this evening at a bottle share. I'll try to remember to report back tomorrow.

 

Unless I'm mistaken, Festina Peche is not produced using lactobacillus bacteria but rather the addition of lactic acid to the beer to achieve the desired sourness. In this process the sour level is fixed and won't increase over time.

 

I'd heard the same thing, but their website says otherwise.

 

Didn't work out this week, probably will do it this coming Thursday.

 

Their website is purposely ambiguous and confusing about it, and for good reason if you look at it from their perspective. Who wants to be known for simply using lactic acid to sour their beers?

Notice they call Festina Peche a "neo-Berliner Weiss" but the next paragraph say Berliner Weisses are "traditionally fermented with lactic cultures to produce its acidic character". Confusing no?

 

Agreed with being confusing. The peaches could make it neo though.

 

Yeah, DFH's website is very ambiguous to the point of sounding deceptive on the topic - the only* hint (other than anonymous, third party forums posts, etc) I ever found was a video Caligione put out several years back in which he noted they "...dialed back..." on the sourness for the new vintage because of consumer complaints the previous year. (Looks like it's still up on the beer's page on their website - starts around 0:40).

Well, *"Only" until I came across this pro brewer's blog post a few weeks back and found this quote -

...blog is Joseph Lemnah's who now owns Burlington (VT) Brewing Co., formerly at Dogfish Head in 2007-08 period.

 

This beer sucks with cellaring. I had a 2008 bottle about a year ago, and it tasted like bad yogurt... Do Not Cellar!

Edit: The bad yogurt flavor was not a bad bottle, as confirmed with a second bottle, tasting exactly the same.

 

What would cause it to improve? It isn't bottle-conditioned. The sourness is pretty minimal. The peach might fade, but that flavor is really part of it.