Leipziger Gose Exploding Bottles.

Have lived in Germany since 2008 and still have never seen a Gose. Funny, isn't it, how they're available in the USA and not here. Those long necks don't look like they're meant to stand a huge amount of pressure, so any infection should make them go boom.

 

Could be a number of things, including storing it in a warm environment. Gose was apparently always a highly volatile brew, as Ron P. points out:

"Another important characteristic of Gose that makes it very different from other German beer of the 19th century is the method of conditioning. There was no long period of lagering at the brewery. Gose was delivered, still fermenting quite vigourously, in barrels to the Schänke. It was stored in the cellar with the tap bung closed but the shive hole left open, so that the still-active yeast could escape. Only when the fermentation had slowed to a point where no yeast was emerging from the shive hole, was the Gose ready to bottle. The barrel was emptied into a tank, from whence it was filled into the characteristic long-necked bottles. These were not closed with a cap or cork, but with a plug of yeast which naturally rose up the neck as the secondary fermentation continued.

How long this conditioning lasted depended upon a number of factors, most importantly the temperature outside. In the Summer an unlucky landlord could see his whole supply turn to vinegar. The minimum period for a bottle to mature was around a week. In warm weather a Gose would be considered undrinkable after about three weeks. The trick for the landlord was in serving his Gose at just the right degree of maturity. Some went so far as to have stocks of beer of different ages, so regular customers could have their beer just as they liked it."

Lots more here:
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2007/08/gose.html

 

I'm pretty sure I saw Gose in a store window somewhere in Germany. I'm thinking it was Bamberg.

 

Really? You sure it wasn't a "Bocksbeutel" wine bottle?

 

I thought it was the Leipzinger (sp?) Gose. But I may have been drinking.

 

I was in Leipzig last weekend and had a couple of Goses (or Gosei) at the Bayerischer Bahnhof. I didn't take any detailed notes, but the beer wasn't what I had expected. In fact, it tasted surprisingly familiar (in a bad way). The sourness was nice and mild, but I was tasting something that I'm all too familiar with, stressed yeast by-products. I think the beer was poorly fermented. It then dawned on me that this tasted like a 25 point homebrew; drinkable and even somewhat interesting, but not something that I expect to be served in a brewery. Is that what a Gose is supposed to taste like? Has anyone else had this reaction? After tasting a fresh Gose, it doesn't surprise me that they have had some exploding bottle problems.

That next Monday morning we opened up a couple of German pale ales for breakfast at the brewery. I couldn't believe it, but that same fermentation derived problem were apparent in both. These beers both came from well respected "craft" breweries in Germany. I'll be gathering my thoughts over the next couple of days and post something more detailed in the German craft beer forum sometime soon.

 

I have heard from a few sources that Bahnhof has been having some problems. Sad, really, and I hope they can work them out quickly. That said, their Gose was always at the less sour end of the spectrum.

 

Perhaps the increased demand has led them to begin taking some shortcuts?

 

July 10 will find us in Leipzig on our bike ride, but I think we'll only have time for Ohne Bedenken. Also 9 days too early for the "Miss and Mister Gose" competition

 

I've noticed that beer seems to have really caught on amongst the brett/wild fans over here. A mention of Faessla or even Andechs usually gets a blank stare, but everyone seems to know that Bahnhof Gose or their Berliner.

 

Too early? There Gose that opportunity.....

Prosit!!