Anderson Valley The Kimmie, The Yink, & The Holy Gose

Brewed By: Anderson Valley Brewing Company in Boonville, California 
Purchased: 12oz CAN from a 6-pack bought at Binny's in Chicago, IL; 2014

Style/ABV: Gose, 4.2%
Reported IBUs: ?

This beer was a random purchase, and not something I would normally seek out. But, at the time of buying this beer, I was sick with a cold, and I needed something in a can to bring to a party. You really can't go wrong with a low-ABV Gose, right? About Anderson Valley Brewing Company: 

The Anderson Valley Brewing Company is a brewery based out of Boonville, Cali that was founded in 1987 
by Kenneth Allen. Originally, the brewery brewed out of a 10-barrel brewhouse, until an expansion was needed to meet demands. The expanded brewhouse was built in 1996, at the corner of Highways 128 and 253, a mile from the center of Boonville. In 1998, the brewery expanded again, with construction of a three-story Bavarian-style brewhouse being completed in 2000. In 2010, the brewery was sold to Trey White, and that same year Fal Allen took over as brewmaster. For more info, check out the brewery's website or Facebook page. 

The Kimmie, The Yink, & The Holy Gose is part of Anderson Valley's Highway 128 Session Series. Their traditional-style Gose is brewed with pale two-row and malted white wheat malts, finished with Bravo hops, and features a kettle soured wort.

The Kimmie, The Yink, & The Holy Gose

This is a golden, lightly hazy, but filtered looking affair. The beer kicks up two fingers of wispy, wheat-fueled, white head, and there's good lacing and lazy carb.

Having just got this beer into a glass for the first time, I'm surprised at how good it smells. There's a lot of wheat notes, floral aromas, peach, coriander, lemon sherbet, and some minerality.

This is clean and refreshing, with nice griping lemon and peach tartness, without much lactic funk. There is a refreshing, underlying tartness that drives this beer...which is fantastic. You pick up the wheat and coriander in the taste, and there's a kiss of salt and minerality.

At 4.2%, this is incredibly drinkable. This is a really well-done wheat beer that is tart and refreshing without any crazy lactic funk. If you like lactic funk, you might be a bit disappointed, but the beer makes up for it with spot-on palate duration, a light and gently carbonated mouthfeel, and pretty good complexity. This delves into sour lemons and peaches up front; rolls into some stone fruits and tropical fruits in the mids, with coriander showing up; the back end drops wheat notes, salt, light minerality, and a super clean finish. Nice.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd) 

I'm feeling a Light Above-Average here. If you want a griping, sour wheat beer...look no further. This is clean, refreshing, and good. I might pair this with sushi tonight.

Random Thought: Somehow, my fridge is full of beer. I'm a happy camper.

Destihl Wild Sour Series: Here Gose Nothin'

Brewed By: Destihl Restaurant and Brew Works in Normal/Bloomington, Illinois
Purchased: 12oz CAN from a 4-pack bought at Binny's in Chicago, IL; 2014

Style/ABV: Gose, 5.0%
Reported IBUs: 12

Between Penrose and Destihl, Chicago's sour scene is suddenly become more tangible. And that's good for me. About Destihl: 

Destihl is a brewery (Bloomington) and brewpub (Normal, IL & Champaign, IL) based out of the Midwest. Specifically, the middle of Illinois in the middle of the United States. Daaaa midwest. The brewery was founded by CEO & Brewmaster, Matt Potts, in 2007. Like many brewery founders, Potts started out as a homebrewer, and would eventually trade his law school education and law practice for those sweet barley suds. Destihl currently brews a myriad of regular and barrel-aged beers, including an increasing portfolio of tasty sour brews. For more info, check out their website. 

Bad pun aside, the Here Gose Nothin' is a "Leipzig-Style Gose" that undergoes spontaneous fermentation, and features lactic notes of lemon, lime, and citrus. This one also has some coriander and sea salt added. 

This is a filthy wheat beer, pouring into a cloudy, hazy, unfiltered, swampy, pick-your-synonym straw/wheat color. The beer produces a finger of wheat-tinged head that is wheat beer strong. This looks to be well carbonated, and blah blah.

Destihl Wild Sour Series: Here Gose Nothin'

The aroma here is really nice, with coriander, ocean sea salt breezes, wet rain, mist, some light lactic acidity, light lemon citrus, some watermelon rind, and a little bit of wheat for good measure. This is an inviting aroma, if you're into little sour bangers.

This isn't overly sour, but it is incredibly funky. This dips into citric acid, tomatoes, tomato juice, unfiltered wheat, V8 acidity, and tons of lactic acid funk. As you dig into the wheat-acid-lactic funk fest, you can pull out some of the coriander and some of the hints of salt. It's more in line with that mist aroma, ocean breezes. As this warms up, it takes a turn towards the more creamy, with that creamy lactic funk coating. I love it.

This is light, refreshing, and incredibly drinkable. The wheat malts provide some sustenance to the body, especially as this warms up, so I would call it light-full. Palate depth is really good, and the mouthfeel here falls on the flatter side of carbonation, which just makes the lactic acid all the more funky. This is reasonably complex. Up front is lactic funk, V8 acidity, coriander and sea salt; the mids roll into more coriander and sea salt, big wheat, lactic funk; the back end gets a little creamy as this warms, and this drops citrus hints everywhere. It's well done. 

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd) 

I'm feeling a Light Above-Average here. I'm really enjoying this, and I would pick this up again. This is one of the best things Destihl has cranked out in a can, and the fact that it is reaching distro up in Chicago is great news for everyone. I'm not really sure if this beer is 100% true to the style, but I don't really care. More lactic wheat beers please. Thanks. 

Random Thought: I always have a hard time with food pairings for something like this. The inherent funk to this style makes me think that pairing this beer with strong cheeses or sushi might have a negative result. Maybe pair this with some Greek Food? 

Boulevard Hibiscus Gose

Brewed By: Boulevard Brewing Company (Moortgat) in Kansas City, Missouri

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 6-pack bought at Binny's in Naperville, IL; 2014 (best by 2014/02/15)

Style/ABV: Gose, 4.2%

Reported IBUs: 11

When you gots to Gose you gots to Gose. About Boulevard:

Boulevard Brewing Company hails out of Kansas City, Missouri. They have a very nice website that is cleanly formatted, informative, and is not loaded with Java and Flash scripts. The company was founded officially in 1989, but began in 1988 when founder John McDonald began construction of the brewery. In 2006 the brewery had a major expansion, which allowed for additional brewing capacity. You can find more info on the brewery's history HERE. According to Wikipedia, Boulevard is the largest craft brewer in Missouri, and the 10th largest craft brewery in the United States.

The Hibiscus Gose is part of Boulevard's Backroads series. This one is brewed with coriander and sea salt during the boil, and steeped in dried hibiscus flowers during the whirlpool. 

Boulevard Hibiscus Gose

If you like radioactive and bright pink beers, this beer is for you. The beer pours into a reddish-pink body, kicking up two to three fingers of long-lasting, pink-tinged head. The beer is slightly hazy, and well-carbonated, and the lingering head leaves lacing. It looks fun, like mimosas and Fridays.

This has a distinctly light aroma, similar to a Berliner, with wet rain and mild lactic sourness. Unique to the aroma here is the hint of sea salt, along with deep floral notes that are fruity and bright. I wouldn't peg coriander in a blind tasting, but the coriander plays off the hibiscus and the sea salt, adding some zest and character to the aroma. There are also some wheat notes backing the whole thing up.

This is respectively tart, with lactic character that leans towards the yogurt side of things. I'm getting a lot of yogurt in the taste, with lemon Greek yogurt coming to mind. The sourness is actually enough to make me pucker so slightly, and this definitely has a salty character. Once you get past the salt and sourness, you find bright floral notes, including hibiscus and rose petals, melon, cherry, wet rain, lemon tea, and some gentle wheat. The coriander is again muted in the taste, but plays off the sour and salty notes subtly.

This is light...refreshing...bright. Really, the perfect Summer brew. This is maybe peaking in terms of the season, but it was drinking good a few weeks ago when it was much warmer out. I'm not getting any alcohol here, and this is fairly complex, with a carbonated and light-bodied mouthfeel. Honestly, I hope Boulevard rolls this one out again, because it's a solid beer. Up front: lactic funk, wet rain, Greek yogurt, sea salt; the mids roll into creamy wheat and more Greek yogurt, with some lemon, hibiscus, rose petals; the back end trails with salt and coriander, and finishes pretty dry. 

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Decent Above-Average on this. This is tart and enjoyable, and way better than 99% of the crappy fruit beers available during the Summer. Seriously, this blows your Lincoln-doodles Lemon Candy or whatever out of the water. I'd recommend this for Summer patio adventures. Pair this with Dave Matthews Band, getting rapey, and fruity salads. 

Random Thought: If this beer represents a trend in the future of American brewing (or beers available to the American market), I like it.

Off Color Brewing Troublesome

Breewed By: Off Color Brewing in Chicago, IL

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 6-pack bought at Foremost Liquor Stores in Chicago, IL; 2013

Style/ABV: Gose, 4.5%

Reported IBUs: 10

Oh hey...something new, woo. About Off Color Brewing:

Off Color Brewing is a brewery founded in 2008 according to their Facebook, or 2014 according to their website, or 2013 if you follow their release party and the logical timeline. It really doesn't matter, I suppose. What you need to know is that this brewery is the brainchild of former Goose Island barrel guru, John Laffler, and former Two Brothers brewer, Dave Bleitner. The duo are both graduates of Siebel, and share a passion for brewing exotic, off-color beer. For more info, check out the brewery's ABOUT page.

Tonight's beer is being dumped into the Gose category on both Ratebeer and BeerAdvocate. The Troublesome is a blended wheat beer brewed with lactobacillus. Actually, this beer is a blend of two different beers: an "uninteresting wheat beer," and a "overly acidic & funky beer fermented solely with lactobacillus." The two beers are blended with coriander and salt (ah, so it must be a Gose...eh). The beer features Northern Brewer hops, pils, wheat malt, flaked wheat, and flaked oats malt...and punches in at a sessionable 4.5% ABV. Let's glass this one up, shall we?

Off Color Brewing Troublesome

The beer pours into a transparent/clear yellow body, and kicks up a finger of white head. There's a nice stream of carbonation in the glass. You might mistake this for a Pilsner or Pale Lager, but the head retention is good, with some sea foam head hanging around, there is nice lacing, and the carbonation is much more constrained.

The aroma here is very nice, like a German Wheat beer meets a Belgian Strong Ale meets a Gose. I'm getting lots of Pils malt and Belgian funk, with cream, vanilla, white sugar, clove, Pils malt, hints of dough/biscuit, and some BIG, SPICY, coriander. Huge coriander, it's very spicy. I'm getting some grainy lemon and a hint of salt as well.

The taste mirrors the nose, and I'm getting a reasonable amount of salt in the taste....I get salty clove and lemon-Belgian funk up front; that rolls into citrus, wheat, vanilla, clove, coriander, and more salty wheat takes over. There's a lot of salt, clove, coriander spice, lemon citrus, grass/wheat, and some good Belgian funk. It's a nice wheat...creamy, drinkable, and appropriately dense. I'm also picking up some grains of paradise.

This is delicious. It's medium-light bodied, with great carbonation to help move things along. The beer is creamy, and wheat-fueled, with hints of salt. It's so refreshing, and equally appropriate to pound back at 4.5% ABV. Palate depth is outstanding, and complexity is awesome too. You get salty clove and lemon and Belgian funk up front; that rolls into citrus, wheat, clove, coriander; more salty wheat dials things back up, and the beer finishes with lingering wheat, salt, citrus...dry...funky...oh man.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. I guess it could be a little more tart or sour...but I don't know. The lemon, clove, grains of paradise, and creamy wheat flavors all remind me of the best summer beers...this is some good shit. I would pair this beer with foods on a hot summer day: grilled foods, hamburgers, fruit salads, hot dogs, pasta salads, etc. You could also pair this with some upscale dining and go the burger/vegetable route. It's not quite peppery or funky enough to compete with a Saison, but it has that rustic and raw element that suggests leafy/green pairings.

Random Thought: And a 6-pack is only like 10 dollars. Very comparable to something like the Prairie Standard. 

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. 

Samuel Adams Verloren

Brewed By: Boston Beer Company in Boston, Massachusetts 
Purchased: 22oz bottle (Batch No. 1) from a Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2013
Style/ABV: Gose, 6.0%

Reported IBUs: 15

I love those random impulse buys, because this was totally that. Really though, all the Small Batch Series offerings from Sam Adams are reasonably priced at around 5-8 dollars per 22oz bottle, so here is me being brave and trying their interpretation of a Gose. About Sam Adams:

Samuel Adams was founded in 1984 by Jim Koch, and currently the Boston Beer Company is the largest American-owned beer company in the United States. Sam Adams is also the largest craft brewer in America, with over a million barrels of beer being produced annually. You can check out the Sam Adam's website for more info.

Gose, pronounced like "rose + uh," is a German style of beer. And so, we are off to the German Beer Institute. Gose is an ancient, sour, and salty ale, made from more than half malted wheat and the rest malted barley. The beer is fermented with yeast and lactic bacteria, and is spiced with coriander and hops. This beer is traditionally brewed with slightly salted water. The nose is supposed to be mild with some spicy coriander, and the taste should feature a sour spiciness with banana, green apple, dried apricot, zest, and coriander. The saltiness should be slightly present in the dry finish. The beer is traditionally served in a cylindrical-style glass, but it may also be served like a Berliner Weisse with a shot of raspberry or woodruff-flavored syrup. 

This 1000-year old beer traces back to the river Gose and the town it flows through, Goslar, in the state of Lower Saxony, 100 miles from Leipzig. Goslar was a bustling town in the 11th century, thanks to its copper, lead, zinc, salt, and silver mining. It was also known for its brew center. When the Goslar mines gave out in the Middle Ages, Goslar declined and Gose-brewing migrated to Leipzig. The beer was brewed in Leipzig no later than 1738, and by 1900, Gose was the most popular beer in Leipzig with more than 80 licensed Gose houses on record. For these reasons, modern Gose is now associated with the Saxon capital, Leipzig. 

Gose is unlike any other beer style, in that it is brewed with slightly salty water. The style rose to popularity in Leipzig, up until World War 2, when the breweries sustained damage from the war and style faded away. Things were further complicated by post-World War II Germany, and the Berlin Wall. The modern Gose renaissance has been attributed to the Gosebrauerei Bayerischer Bahnhof (Gose Brewery Bavarian Station), which opened in 2000 in Leipzig. For further reading, definitely check out the German Beer Institute...plus, their website is awesome, so why wouldn't you check it out? 

Now...this is a pretty nuanced style...so let's see what Sam Adams has in store. If you check out their Verloren page, you can find out what their thought process was for this beer. Sam Adams describes the beer as having a base of unfiltered wheat malt, with a touch of salt, and coriander for a peppery spice. This beer utilizes Saaz hops, two-row pale malt and unmalted wheat malts, top-fermenting ale yeast, and kosher salt and coriander. Clocking in at 6.0% and packing 15 IBUs, this is not a huge beer but SHOULD pack some really nice flavors. Let's glass this up.

Samuel Adams Verloren

With a malt base that's 50-60% unfiltered wheat, the head formation and slightly hazy body is not unexpected. This one kicked up about 3-finger's worth of orange/amber-tinted head. In low light, the body is a darker orange/bronze color. When held to a bright light, this beer is a pretty nice orange color with some yellow tones, and the head is just a tad off-white pulling color from the body. There's a lot of carbonation rising upwards in this in the form of small to medium-sized bubbles, and the head is sustaining nicely with some lacing. Props to Sam Adams for leaving this one unfiltered...it looks to be a touch hazy with some sediment. 

The aroma is surprisingly light and perfumey/fruity, with some citrus, grass, lemon zest and peppery coriander, a bit of wheat and biscuit, and maybe a dash of mineral/salt. It reminds me of the Sam Adams Summer Ale with a dash of mineral/salt quality. 

This is pretty light and refreshing, with a big blast of coriander and zesty citrus kick in the back of the front and mid palate. There's a mineral edge and hint of salt throughout, but especially towards the back. It really does remind me of the Summer Ale with a bit of that mineral kick. There's also a pretty nice biscuit and floral thing here...it's kind of herbal, and reminds me of flowers or rose pedals. 

I love the Sam Adams Summer Ale, so this is in my wheelhouse. This is light to medium-light in terms of mouthfeel, with lively carbonation and smooth wheat body driving this beer across your mouth. You get some really bright citrus mid-palate lighting up your tongue, and it reminds me of summer and makes me smile and shit. I mean...let's call a spade a spade, this is a great wheat beer. Missing here is the lactic bacteria and perhaps some wheat complexity...so it's probably fair to say this beer is a loose interpretation and perhaps a bit safe. Safe is accesible. Nevertheless, palate depth is really nice and complexity is okay. You get some wheat and a touch of mineral up front; mid palate is wheat, really bright citrus, zest, coriander, spice, and some biscuit/grain; back end is fading citrus, and dry to mineral/salt. 

Rating: Above-Average (4/5 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Above-Average on this beer. Pretty nice stuff. It reminds me of the Summer, and I could see myself grabbing a bottle or two of this (especially at the price) for a barbecue or to pair with some pizza or salad. At 6.0%, this is drinkable and easy-going, but it also has the potential to take you to happy places...so you get nice citrus and coriander for your Ego, and your Id can feed its alcoholism. This isn't the most exciting beer...but it is what it is, which is pretty good. This compares well to wheat beers and Sam Adams' Summer Ale...I'd like to see how this would taste with the addition of some lactic kick. Overall though, I'll probably pick this up again at some point.

Random Thought: Don Cherry is an idiot.