Portland’s Peche Fest rocks the peachy niche fest scene

One of the endearing things about the Portland (Oregon) beer scene is the rise in recent years of the niche beer festival, mini- to micro-fests dedicated to a unique, specific theme. One of my favorites simply because it’s so out-of-the-box is BenFest, featuring all beers brewed by one of Portland’s many brewers named “Ben.” Others aren’t quite as unconventional, dedicated to particular styles or ingredients.

So it is with Peche Fest—a beerfest “dedicated to drinking the world’s greatest fruit—the peach.” The third annual Peche Fest is taking place at Saraveza (and their Bad Habit Room) this Saturday, October 10, and is featuring “25+ rare peach beers and ciders, food made with peaches, cocktail specials” all for only $10.

Peche Fest 2015 poster

Think of Peche Fest as a more narrowly-focused Fruit Beer Fest (also a Portland staple), one that I think perhaps better represent another white-hot popular segment: sour beers. More often than not I see peach married with a soured beer of some style, with two well-known (best known?) examples being Dogfish Head’s Festina Peche and Logsdon’s Peche ‘n Brett. And from what I can tell most of the beers at Peche Fest are soured in some form or another. So not only will this be a great showcase of peach beers, but it’s also a great opportunity to sample beers that are soured via different methods and organisms.

Peche Fest is running from 3 to 10pm, and the $10 entry will get you the commemorative glass and two drink tickets; tickets are good for a pour, and additional tickets are $2 each (if you’re used to the $1 ticket pricing, keep in mind these are rare, special, and/or limited beers). You can buy tickets in advance here. (And I’m not even mentioning the newly-added VIP session—simply because it’s already sold out at the time of this writing.)

The final beer list is out now, which I’m reposting here below. (Of special note is Block 15 Brewery’s GABF gold medal-winning Turbulent Consequence: Peche.)


Block 15 Brewing: Peche
Fresh picked winter snow white peaches were added to select barrels of spontaneously fermented Turbulent Consequence, matured an additional seven months. 6% ABV.

Breakside Brewery: Abbey’s Crumble
Sour Wit Brewed with Ginger, Peach and Nectarine. 10 IBU and 7.2% Abv.

Burnside Brewing: Gin & Joose
This beer is Peaches of Immortality, a tart French Saison, added to Ransom’s Old Tom Gin barrels and aged for 3 months with fresh strawberries, peaches, mangos, and a touch of lavendar. The fruit/flower additions along with the barrel flavor work together to add a soft bouquet of botanical aromas and a little bit of sweetness to a simple yet bold base beer. 6.2% ABV, 3 IBU.

Crooked Stave: Persica Vintage 2013
Sour Golden Ale Aged in Wine Barrels with Colorado Palisade Peaches

Crooked Stave: Batch #50
Grand Cru Wild Ale Barrel Aged 22 Months in Wine Barrels with Colorado Palisade Peaches

De Garde Brewing: Peach & Apricot Bu (bottles)
A Berliner-Weisse style Ale aged in oak barrels with Peaches and Apricots. 4.5% Abv.

Dogfish Head: Festina Peche
A neo-Berliner-Weisse. Festina is delicately hopped and has a pale straw color. To soften the intense sourness, Berliner Weisse is traditionally served with a dash of essence of woodruff or raspberry syrup.
In Festina Peche, since the natural peach sugars are eaten by the yeast, the fruit complexity is woven into both the aroma and the taste of the beer so there is no need to doctor it with woodruff or raspberry syrup. Just open and enjoy! 4.5% Abv 8 IBU’s.

Double Mountain: Peche Mode
It was last September when we received the news that Mt. View Orchards in Parkdale, OR had somewhat of a bumper crop of peaches. We took this as a sign to bring back an old favorite. The Peche Mode makes a triumphant return this year with nearly 500 pounds of peaches added to a Strong Belgian Ale base, and then inoculated with Brettanomyces. We gave it nine months to relax and think. The result is a peachy, farmhouse paradise. Lightly tart and refreshing, this one drinks easy. When life hands you peaches, make beer! 8.6% ABV, 7BU

Ecliptic Brewing/Cigar City Brewing: Ellipsing the Sun
sauvignon blanc barrel aged beer with peaches, apricots, lemon, and juniper. 9% ABV.

Elysian Brewing: Gourdgia On My Mind Pumpkin Peach Ale
The original Peach Pumpkin ale referenced in the infamous Budweiser tv ad! Brewed with Pale, Munich, chocolate, brown, and Thomas Fawcett amber malts. Pumpkin and pecan meal in the mash. Magnum hops, pumpkin and cinnamon in the boil, pumpkin and peach puree and light and dark Karo syrups to the fermenter.

Epic Brewing: Brainless on Peaches
We took our double gold medal winning Brainless® Belgian, added peach puree and aged it in French Chardonnay casks. It develops nicely as it warms displaying more fruit and wine. 10.7% Abv.

Epic Brewing: SOUR Brainless on Peaches
Epic Sour Brainless on Peaches is a blend of the Brett and Lacto foeders, and Pediococcus wine casks that were blended into neutral oak white wine casks. Aged 18-months. 7.3% Abv.

Ex Novo Brewing: Peaches Ain’t Nothing but Gose and Tricks
German Gose brewed with Jacobsen Sea Salt and apricot and peach purees. Then moved to pinot barrels and aged with Brett C on fresh Oregon peaches. Delightfully tart and super juicy with just touch of Brett funk. 5.5% Abv.

Finnriver Cider: Country Peach
Our farm-crafted Country Peach sour cider is a combination of pear and apple wines fermented in barrels and in steel tanks then combined. Once blended, we employed a famous finishing technique from the Belgian beer world called ‘lambic.’ Historically, a fermented sour beer, called ‘gueuze,’ is fruited with the brewer’s choice of fresh fruit. This fruit ferments on top of the beer and adds a fresh and sharp fruit profile to the nose and the palate.
At Finnriver, we added 100 pounds of whole peaches to a blended tank of soured cider (our gueuze) and let the resident yeast/bacteria finish their life on ripe peach goodness. This last fruit pushes our sour cider on to a form of cider lambic. Bottle conditioned, gently carbonated and pasteurized to hold the sweetness. 6.5% Abv.

Fort George: Eat a Peach
There’s nothing quite like taking a bite of a fresh peach in the heat of summer. This beer aims to emulate that juicy peach experience. A simple grain bill of 2-row and wheat and a small addition of Nugget Hops. Some lactobacillus in the kettle dropped the pH to 3.62. We added 180lbs of sliced peaches in secondary fermentation and 20lbs more of pureed peaches in the bright tank. This beer finishes dry with a nice amount of peach flavor and is perfect while listening to the Allman Brothers on a hot August day. ABV: 6.8%

Fort George: Summer Stout
Organic two-row, honey malt, midnight wheat and black barley give the beer a rich malt flavor and blackness, balanced with 100% Cascade hops. After initial fermentation on clean, crisp Fort George yeast, the beer gets a secondary fermentation on lots of organic peaches. 5.3% Abv 45 IBU.

Golden Valley Brewing: Brett Haven
Brett Haven is Golden Valley’s latest beer to incorporate fresh fruit and barrel aging. This light blonde ale aged 3 months in a bourbon barrel with Brettanomyces yeast before spending another two months in an Oregon Pinot Noir barrel with 100 pounds of local Red Haven peaches. Notes of bourbon, oak, and Pinot meld with light Brettanomyces character and peach blossoms for a nuanced and refreshing beer. OG 1.046 IBU 11 ABV 5.4%

Great Divide Brewing: Peach Grand Cru
Peach Grand Cru is Great Divide’s newest limited offering. Brewed with Colorado fruit picked right at the peak of ripeness, this Belgian-style ale marries two of our home state’s well-known offerings: great beer and fresh Palisade peaches. Both sophisticated and balanced, this extraordinary, aromatic ale was born to be savored beyond the orchard. 12% Abv.

Hi-Wheel Wine & Mead: Peach Cobbler
Citrus peach wine infused with cinnamon nutmeg and cloves.

Hopworks/New Belgium: B-Side EP Peach Sour
B-Side EP is a kettle soured ale made by brewing the wort on Friday and then letting it sit over the weekend in the kettle. On Monday the wort will be transferred to the fermenter where it will join with 50 pounds of organic peaches and dry hopped with juicy and bright organic Amarillo, El Dorado and Chinook hops.

Laht Neppur Brewing: Peachy Keen
This American Amber ale is made with organically grown peaches andorganic two-row premium malt, with a subtle hint of cinnamon andclove. It features a very low hop profile. Get a glass and you’ll be feelingPeachy Keen! 5.2% Abv, 18 IBU’s.

Logsdon Farmhouse Ales: Peche ‘n Brett
Our seasonal oak aged peach beer is brewed with local Oregon fruit. Peche ‘n Brett is brewed and refermented with the peaches added in to our award winning Seizoen Bretta. One and a half pound of peaches are added to each gallon of Bretta to produce a secondary fermentation resulting in complex oak-derived fruity dryness. Final refermentation with pear juice provides natural carbonation with added aromas and flavors captured in the bottle. 10.0% ABV, 35 IBU

New Belgium/Hopworks: B-Side Peach IPA
B-Side Organic Peach IPA is a certified organic India Pale Ale brewed with peaches. Amarillo hops and peaches burst with stone fruit, while a pleasant, drying bitterness finishes absolutely clean. Fruit IPA? Yes, please. We brewed this beer in Fort Collins with our B Corporation buds at New Belgium. The best thing is that we have plenty of the beer to go around in Portland so we’re throwing numerous release parties. Beginning Thursday, July 23, 2015, New Belgium and HUB will host tap takeovers, dinner parties and make appearances at the Oregon Brewer’s Festival, toasting to Portland’s avid beer enthusiasts.

New Belgium Brewing: Eric’s Ale
Eric’s Ale, named for long time New Belgium brewer Eric Salazar, combines a dry, sour beer aged up to three years in oak foeders with a semi sweet, higher alcohol base beer. The resulting blend is re-fermented with peach juice, creating a smooth ale with subtle peach tones and a warm, spicy finish. The aroma has pleasant hints of vanilla and tropical fruit, the wood characteristics are present but nicely muted.

10 Barrel Brewing (Bend): Peachalicious
4.5-5.5% abv fermented in Pinot bbls with truckloads of peaches

10 Barrel Brewing (Portland): Du Peche Mode
Whitney Burnside brewed a Belgian-style Golden Ale with Rye and aged it in a chardonnay barrel with Donut Peaches. 7.8% Abv.

13 Virtues Brewing: Peach Fuzz Pils
Yes, it’s cute – and it’s delicious! Our Peach Fuzz Pils was brewed in honor of a very special little girl, born the day before this beer was! It’s an American pilsner brewed with Cascade hops and about a pound of peach puree per gallon. Time to get yer fuzz on! 6% Abv 30 IBU.

Upright Brewing: Fantasia
A barrel fermented beer using fresh peaches from Baird Family Orchards. The Fantasia is firmly tart and hugely aromatic with a character not unlike Belgian fruit lambics. Minimum one year on oak before an extended bottle conditioning prior to release. 5.75% Abv.

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