LIFE

Brewologist | Unusual style now easier to find

Steve Goble
USA TODAY NETWORK-Ohio
  • Gose is a beer style hailing from northern Germany, employing wheat malts with salty water
  • U.S. brewers are reviving the style, and adding fruit or floral notes for added complexity
  • The beers are tart, and salty, and fairly low in alcohol

I think the biggest surprise I've seen on a beer shelf in a long while was finding three gose-style beers at one time.

Gose, a traditional German style brewed with salty water, is seeing a revival among U.S. craft brewers, who generally balance the saltiness with some sweet or tart fruit to produce something that stands out. A brew I reviewed a few weeks ago, Otra Vez from Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, used cactus. The trio of goses I saw on the shelf at once employed cherries or watermelon or hibiscus. I found them at Mitchell's Orchard and Farm Market, a lovely destination near Ashland, Ohio, for beer and wine lovers as well as people seeking fresh farm produce.

In each case, the resulting brew was tart, salty and surprisingly refreshing. Each featured a low alcohol level and a very bubbly body.

I bought Briney Melon Gose from Anderson Valley Brewing Company, Hibiscus Gose from Boulevard Brewing Company and Kirsch Gose from Victory Brewing Company. I was excited about the kirsch, a sour cherry beer, and intrigued by the hibiscus. The watermelon, however, had me mustering courage and telling myself that, as a beer writer, sometimes it is my job to drink these things so you don't have to.

I love good ripe watermelon, but I do not care for most candies or fruit drinks that are, in theory, supposed to taste like watermelon. In my opinion, those things taste like watermelon the way vinegar tastes like ice cream.

The Briney Melon Gose turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Brewed with pale two-row barley and malted white wheat, plus a smattering of Bravo hops, it provides a nice beer vibe to go with the watermelon taste. The beer had a nice tart snap from the yeast and a good sea salt presence up front, with the watermelon sort of swirling around in there, too. It did not remind me at all of watermelon candy. It did have me smacking my lips.

At 4.2 percent alcohol by volume — low ABV being a feature it shares with the other goses I tried — Briney Melon is a nice session beer. The California brewery makes a couple of other goses as well, including one brewed with blood orange, so I will keep an eye peeled for those.

Next up on my gose exploration was the Kirsch Gose from Victory. Light red with a nice cap of pinkish-white foam and a luscious sour cherry aroma, this beer had me before I even took a sip. It was tart from the get-go, with delicious, intense sour cherry flavor balanced by a malt bill featuring Pilsner and wheat. The salt presence was there, too. This was my favorite of the trio, and I liked it even better than the Otra Vez I raved about in this column a while back.

Kirsch Gose is 4.7 percent alcohol.

The Hibiscus Gose was pink and sparkly, not quite as bubbly as champagne but it was within a skip and a jump of that.  The aroma was lovely, like walking through a garden by the sea, with both the flowers and the salt making themselves known. The first taste was tart and salty, then the hibiscus kicked in. There was some coriander, a fairly common brewing ingredient, as well, adding to the complexity.

The salt taste was evident throughout, but really came through in the finish, lingering longer than the finishes of the other two goses.

Hibiscus Gose is 4.2 percent alcohol by volume.

The tart and salty flavors of all these beers would work well with fish dishes, or chicken, or anything else that won't overwhelm the subtle fruit or flower flavors. The brewers have already pulled off spectacular balancing acts between tartness, sweetness and saltiness, so keep the food simple.

And if you just want to bask in sunshine and enjoy a few cold ones, gose is an excellent summer beer choice.

Brewologist | Salt? Cactus? Sure!

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Steve Goble writes Brewologist, a weekly craft beer column, for Media Network of Central Ohio. Email him at sgoble@gannett,com. You can find Brewologist on Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest.

A trio of gose brews seen recently on the shelves at Mitchell's Orchard and Farm Market in Ashland.