Upright Brewing Gose

Brewed By: Upright Brewing in Portland, Oregon  

Purchased: 750ml bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2013 

Style/ABV: Gose, 5.2%

Reported IBUs: ?

After a weekend of hard knocks, I'm in the mood for something lighter and more drinkable. A Gose will certainly hit that spot. Tonight's beer was a random purchase, and happened to be from Upright Brewing. 

Upright Brewing is a brewery based out of Portland, Oregon that specializes in French and Belgium farmhouse-style beers. Their unique viewpoint is that they try to use local ingredients, and their beers have a "Pacific Northwest twist." These guys were founded in March of 2009 by Alex Ganum, and the brewery's name is a reference to Charles Mingus' upright bass. For more info, check out their website or Facebook page.

As I said in my introduction, tonight's beer was a random purchase. I credit much of that to this beer's vibrant bottle art. This beer comes in an attractive 750ml bottle, and features a colorful, rustic, seaside town. The Upright Gose is described as "a wheat beer with coriander and salt." Word on the street is that this beer has a pilsener, wheat, and organic caramel malt base; features

Awesome bottle art. 

hallertauer mittelfrüh hops; and is fermented out with French Saison yeast. At 5.2%, this beer should be drinkable...and hopefully with some nice mild tartness and salt. 

Surprisingly, there was no gushing, but popping the cap released a hiss of escaping air. The pour also proved to be difficult, as I kicked up a fistful of head with minimal "umpph" in my pour. As this beer settles down, you can see that the body is a hazy lemonade/urine color, with a large amount of soapy, fluffy, persistent head. The head is bright white, and MAYBE pulls some light gold tones in low light. In bright light, you get much of the same: a hazy lemonade color, a sustaining white head that is depositing tons of sticky lacing as it falls, and INTENSE streams of carbonation rising upwards. 

Upright Brewing Gose

I immediately detected some sea salt/ocean when I popped the cap off and stuck my nose in the bottle for a quick preview of the aroma. In the glass I'm getting a lot more light apples, apple slaw salad, straw, peppery coriander, very mild hints of salt/mineral, a touch of Belgian funk/clove, and some pear/lemon fruitiness. 

I'm really digging this. My first sip was probably a comedown from [bleep] Mountain...I've been sucking down the high gravity beers all weekend (w00tstout, Bois, BCS). This is an incredibly refreshing and subtle beer, with zesty salt/mineral, grains of paradise and orange/lemon peel, bright coriander, peppery salt, apples, pears, and apple slaw salad, and bright wheat/straw. There's also a hint of Belgian clove/funk. The taste really mirrors the nose, and that's a nice thing. The wheat and lemon flavors give this beer a slight tang...but I'm not really picking up any lactic/sour....

As I was buying this, I was speaking with the gentleman at the counter to see if he had tried this beer. He said he had tried it, and he thought it was pretty good. His only objection was that the beer is missing a noticeable lactic/sour edge. And...true dat. I'm not really getting any lactic notes in this beer, let alone any sour. There's definitely some Belgian funk on display, but I feel like this could elevate to another level of awesomeness if they introduced a subtle lactic character. It doesn't even need to be in fermentation...just do a sour mash. But here's the weird thing. As I read some reviews for this beer, I notice that people are saying this beer is sour. Hmmm? I wonder if there is batch variation, or if the recipe has changed, or what.

It's also possible that reviews are full of variance, or that reviews are bullshit, or some combination of the above. Also, I may be drinking a fresh bottle...but I really doubt the presence of microbes in this. Anyway, this beer is amazingly drinkable at 5.2%. This is the type of beer I want on a hot summer day in a 24-pack. I dream of a day when craft beer has become mainstream enough to support a quality Gose in a 24-pack format. This is a light-bodied beer with good palate depth, and understated complexity. There's a lot of wheat, clove, hints of banana, and grains of paradise/orange and lemon peel up front; that rolls into big mineral/salt, peppery coriander, more wheat; the back end is lingering wheat, some Belgian funk/clove...the finish is dry with lingering mineral/salt and wheat.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. This is probably a cop-out rating, but I honestly can't elevate this to a "Divine Brew" when I feel like this beer is missing that lactic twist. I really do think it would add another dimension to this beer, elevating what we have here (which is pretty damn amazing) to something I would seek out more frequently. On the other hand, what we have here is pretty spectacular...a fantastic wheat beer with a nice salty twist. The salt/mineral character in this beer is assertive, and you end up getting a pretty dominate grains of paradise/orange-lemon peel thing. This beer exhumes drinkability, and would pair well with a fruit salad, grilled chicken, peppery poultry, lighter white fish, mussels, clams...this is a summer beer. And a damn good one at that. Recommended. 

Random Thought: I fucking hate Mondays. When I'm president, every weekend will be a three-day weekend, and then we can all fucking hate Tuesdays.