Ponderosa Gose
Wild Rose Brewery & Taproom

Second summer on the market in Alberta - looks like it was pretty successful on its first time around.

I'm a big fan of this beer, and it is among my favourite goses. The sourness is not overpowering, and the passionfruit and salt balance each other out nicely. Great bright colour in the glass as well. 3.5% ABV means you'll be able to sip on this one all night long.

Highly recommended, and probably one of Wild Rose's best offerings.

 

 

 

 

Pours a hazy dark lemon colour, with a great bone-white head, small bubbled and tight. Looks great.

Full on lemon/lime saltiness on the aroma up front. A little pineapple, some lemon and orange peel, mango and a lot more tropical fruits. Some mint in there as well. Zesty and appetizing.

Taste is a slight sourness with some salted lime up front, and then plenty of lemon. The finish is quite bready with very little dryness. Fresh malt aftertaste. Quite nice.

Easily quaffable on a summer day like today, at only 3.5%. Spritzy mouth feel and a thirst quenching quality make this a very good Wild Rose offering for the Alberta summer.

Well done.

 

 

Appearance - Pours a hazy straw with three fingers of bubbly white head.

Smell - passionfruit, wheat malts, hint of orange, salt, coriander, and spicy hops.

Taste - Refreshing tartness from the passionfruit, accentuated by the salt and coriander, and balanced by the wheat malts. Hop level is low.

Mouthfeel - Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Finishes dry.

Overall - A savoury gose for the summer season. Sweet and sour flavours are in check. The passionfruit is a very refreshing touch.

 

 

Poured from 473ml can. Moderately cloudy pale straw colour. Minimal to no head.

Lovely bright tropical fruit nose (even without the best glassware to taste this), white grapefruit and passionfruit.

Reasonably carbonated. Nice light mouth feel. Tastes of passionfruit and spice. Fruit forward through fore and mid notes. Something reminiscent of sourdough bread. Small hint of grapefruit rind-like bitterness at the end, but shortlived. Tart but not unpleasantly so, well balanced.

Enjoyable summer gose. Not my favorite but in the top few I've enjoyed recently. Low alcohol levels 3.5%. I would certainly drink this again. Also an eye catching can.

473ml can - nice rhyming name, I gotta say. Made with passionfruit, salt, and coriander.

This beer pours a hazy, medium golden yellow colour, with three fingers of puffy, rocky, and chunky off-white head, which leaves some dissipating sudsy cloud form lace around the glass as it slowly but surely subsides.

It smells of fresh passionfruit, pineapple, and some generic domestic citrus rind, with a grainy wheaten malt, a hint of salted white crackers, and very ephemeral earthy spice. The taste is bready and doughy wheat malt, a lesser cereal graininess, still heady passionfruit, orange/grapefruit citrus, further muddled tropical fruit, saltwater, some mild black pepper and coriander spiciness, and very tame tart yeasty notes.

The carbonation is fairly active in its robust frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and generally smooth, with a surprising airy creaminess seeping in as things warm up a bit around here. It finishes off-dry, the lingering fruitiness doing well to keep the party going.

Overall, this is a very refreshing and engaging version of the style, with the passionfruit adjunct going a long way in evening out the base edges (I presume). Quite poundable, and now it just makes me want steak, which is a 1980s Calgary dining scene reference.

I added this beer when I received a sample bottle of the test batch, and wrote a review to go with it. Apparently, the review didn't stick, which is probably good because I rated it quite poorly. The sample bottle smelled like rotten meat and made for an intensely unenjoyable drink. Speaking to the WR reps I let them know my thoughts.

Today I received ANOTHER sample, this time the finished product in the 473mL can, so it's time to re-review.

Poured into a tulip.

Look: The colour is fairly pale straw with a slightly orange tinge in the wide glass. Hazy, as expected, but free of larger particles. Fine but strong effervescence, and head which fades very quickly, again as expected. I can happily say it LOOKS like a Gose. 4/5

Smell: No rotten meat this time! Passionfruit is readily apparent, but also tart citrus and a hint of something vinegar-like. A little bit of a sweeter grain smell on a deep inhale. I get the tiniest whiff of coriander, but very little 3.5/5

Taste: Slightly bland on the tip of the tongue, sour but not much else. Mid-palate I got the passionfruit and citrus, with a little pleasant brininess on the sides of the tongue. A lot more passionfruit to finish, but also a little bit of the biscuity malt. Actually finishes quite dry. 3.5/5

Feel: Light body, with lively fizz that quickly decreases after sitting for a few minutes. Lingering dryness. Very much as expected from the style. 4.5/5

Overall, a nice Gose with added fruit flavour. The passionfruit compliments the style well, and the brewers were careful not too add too much and let it overpower the beer itself. I personally thought it could have used even a LITTLE more salt, and definitely a touch more coriander, but overall a very refreshing summer sour.

 

473ml can poured into tulip 15/5/17

milky yellow with plenty of bubbles feeding a short lived thumbs width of foam that leaves a single ring. pineapple juice and passion fruit, corianders faint, brine and wheat taste works with the fruit, a little over carbonated and foamy but super refreshing