As we have progressed into summer and with my dabbling in blueberry beers over, I reached into the beer fridge and pulled out yet another fruited up beer, Maggie’s Peach Farmhouse Ale from Terrapin Beer Company. Now, I’m not sold on fruit beers. I have some that I liked (the Samuel Smith Fruit Ales (raspberry and apricot) and a St. Louis Framboise) and some that weren’t so good (a couple of blueberry beers (the Bar Harbor comes to mind) and some of the Leinenkugels (including their Shandy, just undrinkable). But, I had never tried a peach infused beer and I had some success with other Terrapin Beers (the Hopsecutioner IPA, the Rye Squared and the Monk’s Revenge to name a few). Terrapin is a craft brewer in Athens, GA and has grown from rather simple beginnings to a 40,000 sq. foot brewing facility. Terrapin rolls out six year round beers, 4 seasonals and a bunch of “special project” and collaboration beers. Sadly, two of my favorites the Rye Squared and the Hop Karma (a brown IPA) have been retired.
Before we get to my review, here is what Terrapin has to say about the Maggie’s Peach:
This refreshing summer offering has all the flavor and aroma of a freshly picked peach (to the tune of 1,000 pounds per 100 barrel batch!) combined with the complexity of a well-executed farmhouse ale. Some of you may remember Maggie’s older sister, Side Project Volume 7, one of Spike’s first forays into farmhouse ales. This newest version is just as lovely, should age just as well and has the uniquely GA flavor of fresh summer peaches!
I found the beer to be…
- Appearance: Cloudy, golden honey with lots of foam.
- Aroma: Grainy, doughy with lots of fresh fruit (maybe peaches) and baking spice.
- Taste: Sweet, crisp and refreshing but with a little funk in the finish (almost like the fuzz on the peach skin).
- ABV: 5.3%
This was another average fruit ale. As summer beers go, it certainly hit all of the qualities (crisp, refreshing, flavorful) but I’m still not altogether sold on the fruiting up of my beer. I think I would have rather had a Hopsecutioner.
