The Session #6: Unibroue Éphémère, Smuttynose Hanami, & Dogfish Head Festina Pêche

For whatever reason, I'm always drawn to fruit beers, even though I'm often disappointed by them - they tend to be unbalanced, and more often than not are boring American-style wheat beers with a bunch of fruit flavoring dumped in. Still, even a bad fruit beer can be a decent summer drink, and it's an easy way to add interest to what might otherwise be a boring beer. So with that, I give you my contribution to The Session #6: three positive fruit beer reviews.

Unibroue Éphémère
Smell: apples, mostly green - fruity in a general sense, as well.
Taste: more malty than you might expect. Dry, apples, crispness, but with a pale Belgian base.

Quite drinkable, and great for summer. The fruit flavor doesn't overwhelm or clash, though it's definitely there. A Belgian for people who don't normally go in for Belgians, maybe (though I'm not totally sure I understand those people). Given my taste for Belgian styles, I'd probably take this over most American fruit beers most of the time.


Smuttynose Hanami
Smell: malty, little notes of cherry.
Taste: juicy, a little cherry. Decent pale ale sort of base, sourish finish.

Not bad - I've swiped a few of these from the girlfriend, who had one out someplace, fell in love, and stockpiled it under the assumption that it would disappear from shelves any day. Meant for spring, fine for summer.


Dogfish Head Festina Pêche
Smell: fruity, sour.
Taste: sour, through and through. Also a slightly peachy fruitiness; really not a ton of obviously peach flavor (though if there was, I'd suspect artificial flavorings which always seem like cheating to me (in beer, at least)). Further drinking reveals a crisp and tangy wheat body under all that sourness.

While I'm not usually a huge sour fan, this is one of the more interesting beers I've had lately, and I've found myself coming back to it often, largely because it's surprisingly refreshing. From the first few sips, it was easy to imagine drinking this at a summertime cookout.