Salty Bay
Newport Brewing Company

cool beer, tangy and fruity and actually pretty tidy, not too sour to drink, perhaps light on the salt for a gose as a base beer, but this is more about the fruit and the vanilla than about the underlying nuance, and i think its a cool modern take on the style. almost electric pink from the tap, done with hibiscus, raspberries, and boysenberries, all of them combining to give this a lovely and exotic color. the head is short but it doesnt matter, the beer is not under carbonated to drink. the aroma here is good, i smell the dessert aspects as soon as i do the tanginess, lactose abounds, heavy handed to me, and it makes the vanilla more forward than the fruit, which is like a generic fruit punch vibe in the nose. lemon and light mustiness in the ferment, faintly cheesy maybe but not in taste, and very little grain to me, juicy though, and definitely mouthwatering. the fruit is better in the flavor, enhanced nicely by the lactic pucker, raspberry first but i taste both, natural to me, and well dosed. the hibiscus is a cool touch, adds some herbal bitterness and a slight medicinal thing that offsets the sweetness of the rest of it, like hibiscus tea without the warming spices. the sourness is lemony which makes this tangy throughout, snappy and drying with such a light body and lack of grain character. the vanilla dominates later on and as it warms, was hoping for more saltiness in this region of the beer but its not to be, i get very little of that, just a light mineral pop. sweet through the finish, it trumps the sour, and i could do without most or all of this lactose. that said, this is on trend, good for what it is, and distinct in an annoyingly samey style space. i like the restrained acidity and the fresh fruit vibes, summery and different.