Terrapin Maggie's Peach Farmhouse Ale

Brewer- Terrapin Beer Company

Beer- Maggie's Peach Farmhouse Ale

Style- Saison/ Farmhouse Ale

ABV- 6.00%

Description- Maggie's Peach Farmhouse Ale pours a a clear straw like yellow with a HUGE billowing white head that does dissipate down to a thin line that does not leave much lacing on the glass.  The aroma is dominated by what you would expect, peaches, along with hints of a tart wheat and subtle aroma of saison yeast.  The taste is also dominated by peaches and has a bit of funk backing it up, but the standard saison taste, which I personally love, is a bit hidden in the mix and thus makes this beer a bit less interesting.  Also, the beer is highly carbonated and makes the beer itself a bit thin and unable to handle the body.  However, this beer is still very refreshing and I think with a bit of tweaking to the recipe this beer could be absolutely fantastic.

Food Pairing-  This light and crisp beer lends itself perfectly to salads.  Also, anything with peaches would highlight the tastes within (of course) a nice appetizer of tortilla chips with mango peach salsa is a dream with this beer.  A main course entree of salmon with lemon pepper on the grill would balance nicely against this highly carbonated beer.  This is a beer that I recommend having at least one by itself though.  The thin body can cause it to be lost in the mix quite easily so experience this one alone to truly understand what is going on within the beer.

Is it worth trying?- Yes, but if you are a huge saison fan you may be disappointed by this offering.  I really hate to say that too as I am a huge fan of Terrapin.  However, this is far from a "bad" beer so do not be put off entirely by this review.  Summer is a time that the market is flooded with fruit styled beers and some have become staples to me (see Dogfish Head review of Festina Pêche) but many are not highlights to me as they can become overly sweet very quickly.  Maggie's Peach Farmhouse Ale is somewhere in between the two, not overly sweet, but not blended seamlessly into the profile of the beer, but still a beer certainly worth trying!

Rating-

Where Can I Get It?- This is pretty widely available throughout Northeast Pennsylvania.  I picked up a 4 pack in Kingston at Goldstein's Deli, but it is also available at Wegman's- Dickson City and Wilkes Barre, and I believe Krugel's Georgetown Deli in Wilkes Barre has some as well.  Terrapin is only available in 10 states (Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia) so we need to consider ourselves lucky to have such fantastic breweries available in our area!