Duplicitous
Nickel Brook Brewing Co. - Burlington

 

Appearance: Poured with a thumb's worth of head that stuck around quite a while but did not lace. The body is a cloudy yellow that show good carbonation.

Smell: Warming did help it come out, but it wasn't needed for floral grain with a lemon presence. Potency is pretty good all in all, especially considering it is labelling itself as light.

Taste: Sour Lemon with some barley grain that turns to a milder floral and leafy hops and a hint of salt. The sour aspect is just potent enough that it keeps the lighter offering interesting without overpowering it. That said, it's very light and nothing overtly stands out or has a unique spin. Well made even keel would be my words to describe it.

Mouthfeel: Carbonation is good and helps out the entire beer, and the bitterness of the hops is just right to stop the sour note from getting out of control. Transitioning isn't exactly the smoothest thing, but still pleasent.

Drinkability: It's light bodied, but not absurdly so which is right on the money for me here. Refreshing with a nice sour note that still presents beer elements in the barley and hops. Settles down nice too.

Final Thoughts: This is a light sour done right, which may be an odd comment but I was very upset about Muskoka Ebb and Flow and I'm glad to see another Ontario brewer stepped up to the plate here. That the sour note doesn't overwhelm is great. That said, I can certainly see those who missed the light portion of this beer, and give it an unfair shake.

Look: MASSIVE amount of foam. Pour carefully. Reminds me of Duvel in its foaminess. Once the head finally settled down it is a deep gold color with a lot of fast rising bubbles. Head retention is great, minimal lacing. It an etched bottom glass it produces a torrent of carbonation bubbles.
Smell: Grassy, floral, earthy,
Taste: Sour, like cider vinegar . Blech! All of the great aromas are entirely subsumed by the sourness.
Feel: Very foamy in the mouth as well as the glass.
Overall: I have been trying more sours lately because I’ve found some that I really like. This isn’t one of them. I won’t drink this again.

Duplicitous came with the Costco Canada Craft Beer Advent Calendar.
Gose is "not beer" (at least to a beer drinker). It is sour, there are no hops or malt flavours, how can it be considered a beer, it doesn't taste like a beer. Any beer that recommends using a tulip glass should raise a flag, before purchasing.
I drank about 1/3 of it and poured it down the sink. The first time in my 57 years I ever poured a fresh beer down the drain. I disliked it so much, I had to write a negative online review (my 1st ever).
Of the 24 beer in the advent calendar from all over Canada - this was easily the worst!
Total and complete rubbish!

 

 

 

This beer was very light coloured, with a nice white head. Quite sour to my taste, but with good citrous flavour. However, the sour taste was overpowering, and not what I was expecting, considering a recently tried kettle soured Berliner Weisse beer. Not something I would buy again.

 

 

473 ml can served cold into a pint glass. An LCBO purchase for about $3.35 CDN. Canned September 5, 2018.

Appearance - mildly hazy golden coloured beer. Two fingers of fluffy white head with good staying power and some sparse lacing left at the brim of the glass.

Smell - leafy and weedy hops with lemon. Not a lot else, but simplicity is king here.

Taste - tart and sour with lemon and lime being the stars. Leafy hops fill in the gaps. Pretty well rounded with some salt for good measure. Hints of wheat throughout, with a touch of gym socks.

Mouthfeel - light bodied, astringent on the tongue with a salty finish. Carbonation is fairly light. A certain creaminess in the body due to the wheat.

Overall - a pretty solid gose, that is worth trying. One of the better ones. Not as tropical as expected with the citra hops.

This one falls down on taste for me. It looks and smells great. On the nose I can really pick up the Citra, but then it was gone. What I mean is it didn't really translate well to the flavor. It's a good sour flavor, but I expected more from the Citra hopping. It just didn't translate. Feel was alright, perhaps a little lighter than expected, acidic finish which to mean means it is a little off balance.

A good beer,but it just lacked what was promised in the Citra.

473 mL can from the LCBO; dated Jun 29 2018 and served slightly chilled.

Pours a hazy, pale straw-yellow colour, with one finger of smooth white foam settling atop initially; this layer dissipates within a matter of minutes, quickly being reduced to a collar of creamy-looking foam surrounding a thin cap. A few patches of lace have also been scattered about; looks pretty good to me. The aroma does include hints of lemon acidity, gritty wheat grains and brininess, but beyond that it's Citra hops all the way, which in this instance mostly impart notes of lime, berries and indeterminate tropical fruit.

A nice little light brew that blends together sour, salty, and fruity flavours quite deftly. Lemon and lime come through right off the bat, followed up by hints of honeydew melon and passion fruit; these fruitier aspects are underlain throughout the sip by a backbone of grainy wheat malts and persistent sea saltiness. The coriander spice finally makes its appearance on the back end, which also features a short-lived, mild lactic acidity that leads into a salty-sour finish; shades of citrus acidity linger on into the aftertaste. Light in body, with moderate-to-assertive carbonation levels that agitate the tongue continuously. Feels crisp and refreshing to gulp back.

Final Grade: 4.13, an A-. Nickel Brook's Duplicitous Dry-Hopped Gose is a quality soured ale, with the Citra dry-hopping treatment proving to be a fantastic complement to the base beer's acidity and sea saltiness. I didn't find this one to be overtly, puckeringly sour - the hops, sea salt, coriander and wheat malts all help to distract and dilute the effects of the lactic acid - but I suppose folks new to the sour beer scene might well disagree. I liked this beer quite a bit, and will be returning to it a few more times while it remains available.

 

 

Bottle from a mixed back for around $4