Thoughts on Gose

I went into Gose knowing only that it could and usually is salty. I tried a local small craft brewery's version as my first one (Used to be called Pour Decisions Brewing now they're Bent Brewstillery) and it floored me and my buddy. We were instantly in love with this style and have snapped them up whenever we find a new one we haven't tried.

Probably one of my favorite's Ive had so far is from uh Off Color Brewing and is called Troublesome. It seemed almost light on the salt and sour but very well balanced, and I can easily find it whenever I want so bonus.

 

i learned in grad school that there are genetic polymorphisms regarding the flavor of corriander/cilantro. in layman's terms....to some people, corriander (one of the two unique ingredients in a gose) tastes disgusting. i can see why this style is so polarizing knowing that.

 

love em if they're done well

 

They give me really bad heartburn...gave up on 'em

 

it definitely takes getting used to. in the end it may not be your "cup of tea" indeed, but i wouldn't write it off right away, its almost another taste you have to acquire.

 

I like the style. BUT I will say that the differences I find amongst brewers are their individual approach to the salty aspect of the drink. Some would have you believe that salty and sour make a good gose. But the better ones in my opinion are the ones that treat the salt like a mineral. Hard, white and has a bright taste that is not salty per se but rather ingenious to the mouthfeel. The malt presence in the good gose is almost sly. The saltiness a bit of a clever insertion to add dimension rather than cause tears. Sour is a wonderful thing in beer but too much and you find that you are drinking something akin to margarita mix without the tequilla. Just enough and you have a pucker that is soft like a kiss. =)

 

I enjoyed gose (just slightly) before it was cool, and I liked them right away. They are catching on now and breweries are starting to experiment: Anderson Valley Gose & Blood Orange Gose, Freigeist Rhubarb Gose & Quince Gose, Off Color and Almanac have some good ones. I'm loving it.

Interestingly, this trend happened in Florida with Berliner weisses a while back, with the semi-style of "Florida weiss" (basically a Berliner weiss with fruit) enjoying local popularity. Didn't seem to take off nationally like goses and fruit goses for whatever reason.

The cynic in me is wondering how long it takes for Stone's Stochasticity Project to bottle a "new and exciting" gose...

 

I've tried Gose only once at my local brewery/brew pub (the place review in my profile) & I liked there's enough that I would try others if it were available. Problem is its not the most common style in the world.

 

Heading down to Atlanta/Decatur area in January anyone know if there is still any Westbrook Gose available anywhere at the moment at the moment? Ive only been to Ale Yeah down there and that was last year. Don't get those guys up here in VA.

But back on topic I loved Anderson Valley's. The blood orange variant was also excellent. Flavor came through the salt well.

 

Yes I tried Blood Orange yesterday and thought it was solid and a little better than AV's original one. Not as much a sour punch as the original but more orange tang pronounced. Over the last 12 months, I've been very pleased with the numerous US version releases of the style that I've been able to find. 2013, I'll I knew about was the German 2, Westbrook and Lost Nation. All were hard to obtain in MD. Seems to really be a growing trend and definitely for the better.

 

I find Westbrook much more sour than most. I like it a lot, and my generally opinion of the other Gose beers I've had is that they are so so. That said if you were turned off by the sourness of Westbrook try the others.

 

I don't like saying "Gose" out loud.

 

Thanks for saying this. Westbrook is an extreme version of Gose. I do not care for Westbrook, but I very much enjoy German-style Gose. Just like some people think more hops = better in an IPA, it seems that some people think more salt = better when it comes to Gose.

 

You know what's interesting about Gose for me, I really like the style and enjoyed many of them over the summer. However, for me, it's such a summer beer that when I drink them in the winter i don't enjoy them nearly as much.