Dark Fruit Gose
Collective Arts Brewing

 

 

8oz glass at Beer Revolution YEG Oliver Square. Not sure if this is a unique offering, but it's been made clear that it's not up to me.

This beer appears a murky, medium magenta colour, with a thin cap of wispy and faintly bubbly pink head, which leaves a low-lying berm of fuzzy lace around the glass as it quickly blows off.

It smells of lemon juice, mixed black berry fruity notes, white saltine crackers, gritty and grainy pale malt, a soft earthy yeastiness, and some faint leafy, herbal, and floral noble bitters. The taste is grainy and crackery cereal malt, a muddled dark stone and berry fruitiness, lemon peel, saline solution, and more understated earthy, musty, and floral green hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite meek in its perfunctory frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and mostly smooth, but for a mild fruity tartness messing with the ideal here. It finishes trending dry, the sourness amping up its lingering game.

Overall - well, this is indeed a pleasantly rendered version of the style, with the unspecified 'dark fruit' carrying itself with a certain aplomb. Frooty, tart, and full-flavoured, it works for me as a keg-kicker on a sunny May afternoon - muchas gracias, once again, Hamish!

Very interesting experience. Bright ruby red brew. Surprisingly light aroma, but flavor is full of fruit but also a bit of saltiness (which I learned from the bartender is true to the type). Also a bit of tartness.

Enjoyed on tap at the Green Growler in Croton-on-Hudson, New York.