Breakside Barrel-Aged Gose
Breakside Brewery - SE Taproom

 

750ml green bottle, purchased at Breakside in mid-September the day after its release. Enjoyed on its first night from the tap (while having dinner with S & dad); tonight's bottle paired with a hearty jambalaya. Split to a pair of short nameless glasses.

A: Extra pale/straw-colored and mildly milky-looking, topped with a finger of fizzy whiteness. The head crackles away quickly, holding as a thin ringing ribbon and star-shaped film. Lace is a little viscous, forming a papery sheen after each sip and gliding back to the ring. Not a ton of carbonation.

S: A long lasting whiff of spice and fruit: ginger, lime, apricot and a sticky bread dough. Sweeter than honey at times, then a wafting zing of overripe and slightly musty fruit and wet wood (as I recall, this was aged in a used Old Tom gin barrel, hence some juniper/evergreen spice)

T: Lots of wheat and plenty of mushy fruit, dry applesauce and more tangy apricot. Flowery then a little vinous, the salinity of the style marries well with the barrel-aging. I recall having the 'regular' Gose before and recalled it as pleasant, if a little underwhelming. This is a nice improvement.

M: Crisp and extremely clean, an stickiness the malts might have is cut but a fine carbonation and a citrus fruit that refreshes remarkably well. At times, this felt like ginger ale, or a spritzer with lime, but stayed mellow enough in feel. Light bodied. Tiny complaint for some gassiness later...

O: This score harkens back to the old 'drinkability' score rather than an averaging of the other four grades. So what? This beer is freaking PERFECT tonight, an able accompaniment for the spice and smoke of jambalaya... then awesome on its own (what little remained) afterward. Suffice to say, they'd better still have bottles for sale when we have dinner at Breakside tomorrow night...