Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Some barrels are harder to use than others is what I have gleaned from the breweries that I have visited. That is why you rarely see gin or tequila or in the case of Brooklyn Brewery, mezcal. That is such a wild and wooly spirit that many beers would be subsumed by the spirit. But, maybe the addition of lime and salt and the sour Gose touch will create a piece of music.
Taste off time! Two Goses go into the ring and only one comes out the winner.
In one corner, we have the Briney Melon from Anderson Valley Brewing v. the other time from Sierra Nevada.
Otra Vez
Pours a pretty a bubbly light yellow but then darkens to a big of a urine color. This has a tang to it right off the bat as the salt and citrus hit the palate. Quite spritzy. Grain taste tucked away shows up at the end. Which is where the prickly pear also shows up along with more grapefruit. All the ingredients listed make a distinct appearance.
Briney Melon
Jolly Rancher here and in full effect. The aroma is a bit off putting but there is watermelon in there. Really more tart than OV with less salt that might have balanced this out. The watermelon is quite fake tasting to me and the taste really sticks to the roof of the mouth.
The clear winner is the Sierra Nevada. It shows off each ingredient without lessening the impact of the other while still being close to the base style as well.
Seems like every brewery needs a Gose and an IPA in their line-up and Modern Times is the latest with their newest special release, Fruitlands, a cherry gose.
Here is their backstory on the beer: “First, we created a traditional gose mash with loads of salt and coriander. Next, we dosed it with 4 different strains of Lactobacillus to create the perfect funky, salty base beer. Finally, once fermentation finished, we added a healthy portion of tart Michigan grown Montmorency cherry juice.”
I am a fan of the Gose style of beer. Unfortunately, American versions tend to include many additions of fruit and/or spices that stray from the original version.
But when I saw a canned version from Anderson Valley, I raised my hopes again that I might find a reliable source of Gose for the summer.
And I was not disappointed. The beers pours a dark orange color with a citrusy aroma. There is another smell in the background that I can’t put my finger on as well. The taste follows with an orange hard candy taste that has a touch of sour to it. This is a very crisp and refreshing beer. And the salt is like a light undercurrent with each sip.
Very similar to a Berliner Weisse but that salt adds just a little kick to the proceedings. I can see myself trying this a few more times during a hot LA summer.
You will see semi-frequent posts about how I believe that craft beer and good food can be paired and now Mikkeller is putting his gypsy brewing stamp to it as well with the MAD project. He has teamed with Chef Jakob Mielcke to create a line of beers to pair with food specifically to very specific flavors. Such as….bitter, salt, sweet, sour and umami.
And here is how the Salt beer looks…
I would love to see a brewery and restaurant team up in LA and in every city and do this same sort of project.
http://madbeer.dk/?utm_source=RateBeer+Weekly&utm_campaign=24f16db828-rbweekly_83a3&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_33216a9626-24f16db828-307447785#!home
Love the old time feel of the black and white photo on the label of this Spruce infused Gose from Freigeist. Pours a hazy light yellow color. This is one of my favorite styles that I first encountered by accident when I visited Leipzig (briefly) in 2006. It has a light tart note in the aroma along with a slight woodsy tinge to it. Sweet tart is what first comes to my mind because the taste is light lemonade. There is an acidic burst that flames out but is quite nice. The bottle was gone very, very fast. I will have to look for this the next time that I am in Europe so that I can compare a fresher version to the older, bottled type.
BFM Douze 12th Anniversary
“Jurassian Salty & Fruity Golden Ale”
from the label:“The Fleur de sel de Guerande, a noble sea salt from the Bretagne in France, is used to accentuate the flavors of this very special ale. Pair it with Green Poultry or Seafood. Sante!”
Ingredients: Swiss mountains spring water, barley malt, Cascade, Amarillo and Hallertauer hops, Fleur de Sel (sea salt 0.015%), yeast.
Gose is a little known East German specific style that is one of my favorites. I had it in Leipzig and was hooked. Now there are two brewers in Portland re-creating this forgotten beer. Cascade and now Upright Brewing.
Here are the specs:
Gose – Upright’s first German-style beer. It’s a neat style that dates back nearly 300 years and uses a unique ingredient – salt.
Malts: organic pale, wheat, organic caramel 15
Hops: hallertauer mittelfrüh
Also: coriander, salt
Yeast: French saison
5.2% abv