In 2008, Deschutes Brewery debuted a beer that was a bold departure for the company — The Dissident, a mixed-fermentation beer soured with wild yeast. It was brewed in the Belgian style of a Flanders Brown (“Oud Bruin” in the regional Flemish), inoculated with wild Brettanomyces yeast and aged in oak barrels on sour cherries.

Not only a new style for Deschutes, The Dissident also represented new ways of thinking for the brewery. The beer aged in barrels for 18 months in a locked room, and the brewery even brought in a separate bottling line for it; the fear was in the wild Brett yeast escaping and cross-contaminating the rest of the facility.

“We didn’t know what we didn’t know,” said founder Gary Fish about The Dissident in an interview from 2018.

“And it was kinda pure experimentation, we didn’t know where we were gonna end up when we started. We just wanted to do something that was completely outside the box from our experience.”

Thirteen years since its introduction, The Dissident has won multiple awards and returned in multiple vintages and variants. Over the last several years, Deschutes has released versions aged on Marionberries and boysenberries rather than cherries, and one fermented entirely with Brettanomyces.

And most recently, the brewery released a special limited version aged with peaches. I picked up a bottle to taste this latest creation and reached out to Deschutes to find out more, starting with the peaches.

“We used whole peaches for this release. They were sourced from Baird Family Orchards in Dayton, Oregon,” said assistant brewmaster Ben Kehs via email. “We have been working with Baird for several years now and they grow outstanding fruit. We brought the peaches in, pitted them by hand, then added them to the foeder. It was a long day!”

The brewing process starts with a base beer of a strong brown ale that undergoes a standard fermentation with a regular beer yeast. It then gets inoculated with Brettanomyces and lactobacillus bacteria to sour and further age the brew.

“The peaches were added to Dissident that had already finished its primary fermentation and was in its secondary fermentation stage,” Kehs said. “(They) were physically added to one of our foeders.” A foeder is essentially a large oak vessel, resembling a giant barrel.

According to Kehs, the usual cherries were omitted and peaches comprise the entirety of the fruit addition.

The finished beer tops out at 10.7% alcohol by volume and 20 IBUs.

I found it to be layered in complexity and quite sour; the aroma reminded me of an aged balsamic vinegar with a bright tart pop and a slight oaky character that gives way to stone fruit as it warms.

There’s a big sour note right up front in the flavor that gets your attention, followed by a bright and earthy “whole peach” impression — skin, fruit, even a slight woodiness reminiscent of the pit.

The fruitiness and balsamic-like complexity offer a savory-sour experience that would be terrific paired with food, as well; I found myself wanting a big chunk of funky blue cheese to accompany it, and I think it would be excellent with seafood. For dessert, think cheesecake.

If you enjoy sour ales, The Dissident Peach is worth seeking out. It won’t be the last in this fruited variant series, either — according to Kehs, Deschutes is exploring other fruits to pair with the beer, which I’ll be watching for.

Top 5 Beers of the Week

Pert Near Fresh Hop IPA — Crux Fermentation Project

Beach Life Mango Pale Ale — GoodLife Brewing

Downtown Brown — Lost Coast Brewery

Bulletin Blonde — Porter Brewing

Future Legend Hazy IPA — Terminal Gravity Brewing