Gose Guanabana
Casa Bruja

12oz bottle from Brewers Haven. Initial pour was almost all head, eventally settles out. Pale yellow with a consistent fizz. Tart aroma, soursop. Taste is both heavy on the tart and the salt. Cactus, soursop flavors and some sweetness.

 

As the popularity of gose wash over the beerscape, even brewers of Panama come under the spell of Northern German sour ale. With the spice of salt, coriander and a moderate acidic tone, it seems that the brewers of Casa Bruja are among the few breweries who understand how to make a proper Gose. And with the curious soursop fruit, a more tantalizing tropical fruit presence is realized.

Pouring a pale goldenrod and peach color, then cast is a hazy slightly matte finish, the frothy Gose Guanabana carries a raw grain and tropical fruit, orchard fruit and berry-like must across the nose. While suggestions of sour citrus, ripe banana, light brine and burlap ebb and flow through the aromatic senses, a grain sweetened taste of whole wheat, cereal and germ tease the early palate with bready sweetness, saltwater taffy and sourdough.

As the maltier influence begin to fade across the middle palate, the sourness gains intensity with the familiarity of lime, lemon, green apple, white grape, gooseberry and that curious melange of pawpaw, coconut, strawberry and apple tastes that's also resonates with passionfruit, mango and agave. Light on hops, the sourness carries the balance while remnants of wheat malt remain. A rounded salinity is redolent with the brine of the sea while its coriander influence add a perfume of orange peel to the late palate.

Lightly musty and remiss of damp burlap, the medium bodied sour ale trails into fruity, floral, spicy and musty fruit peel finish with bold suggestions of white wine, banana cream and cider coming with a woodsy scathe and a briny, bready after palate with an undercurrent of sourdough and tropical succulence remaining steadfast.