Lemon Raspberry Wizard of Gose

 When eating gelato, my firm belief is that the top flavour combo is lemon and raspberry. It’s tart, fruity, refreshing, and perfect. So, when I saw that Bandit Brewery had a version of Wizard of Gose with lemon and raspberry, I was pretty jazzed. The 4.2% sour beer from Toronto comes in 355mL cans that feature a formal raccoon with red/yellow heterochromia.

This edition of WofG has a rose gold colour. It’s a hazy brew that pours with a sprinkling of white head. The beer has a briny aroma with a nice lemony note. The flavour is tart, with lots of lemon and a little tickle of raspberry.

If I’m being honest, I’d have liked this beer to have a bit more emphasis on raspberry, but that said, the flavour is nice and it definitely doesn’t taste artificial. Not a bad little gose.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Bianca Mango Lassi Gose

 A 473mL can of Omnipollo’s mango lassi gose Bianca found its way to me via my ol’ pal WFM. The beer contains 6% alcohol and it’s made with oats, wheat, mango, and lactose sugar. The beer hails from Stockholm and Toronto. It’s an orange-gold colour and pours with a quickly receding white foam.

This version of Bianca has a punchy mango aroma. The flavour is similarly mango-rich, with a quirky yogurty tang that really does provide a lassi-like vibe. In terms of texture, the beer is quite smooth with a touch of kefir-style acidity.

Odd but tasty, the mango lassi Bianca is a bit of a trip. I liked it more than I expected to, though I’d not be in a hurry to down a second. Still, it did exactly what it promised and that’s worth a lot.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Gosé Cuervo Tequila Lime Sour with Salt

Brewed up in Toronto’s West End by the team at People’s Pint Brewing Company, Gosé Cuervo Tequila Lime Sour with Salt is basically a margarita in a 4.9% beer. Sold in 500mL bottles with pretty rad labels, Gosé is brewed with lime juice, lime zest, salt, and barrel aged Mexican reposado tequila.

 

 

This salty citrusy treat is hazy, with a pale golden hue. It pours with a thin layer of white suds and it has a tart and briny aroma—big citrus and considerably salinity. The beer really does have a margarita-esque flavour, packed with lime and a salty tang. There is a bit of tequila present, but honestly, for such a strong flavour, it is pretty understated.

More than a gimmick, Gosé Cuervo is a damned tasty sour and salty offering. Personally, I’d not be inclined to quaff a second one in a go, but the beer is undeniably interesting.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Margarita Gose

The ingredients list in the side of 473mL cans of Side Launch Brewing Company’s Margarita Gose reads a little more exotic than many beers, featuring organic agave nectar, lime purée, and Himalayan sea salt alongside the usual suspects. The beer, a 4.2% gose from Collingwood, Ontario, is a hazy ale with a dull, pinkish gold colour that  gives an impression of grapefruit juice. It pours with a thin but durable white head.

MG has tangy aromatics that do suggest the classic Mexican cocktail—salty brine and tart citrus are the leading lights. The flavour is unusual and yet familiar, with lime at the fore, built above a sharp, saline foundation. As well, there is a vague suggestion of tequila that doubtlessly comes from the agave nectar.

Side Launch’s Margarita Gose is undeniably a novelty beer, but it’s one that is compellingly well-executed. It really does have the essence of a decent marg, tendered in beer form, and in a low-alcohol format that would lend itself to afternoon sipping. I quaffed my first can of the stuff in early March, and it was a bit too chilly for the summer style, but it certainly made me wistful for warmer, sunnier days. The downside of this beer is that, despite its mathematical crushability, is that I’d be unlikely to reach for a second (much less a third) in a session.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Key West Lime Gose

Born at Radical Road Brewing Co., an East End Toronto suds shop, Key West Lime Gose is a member of the brewery’s Funk & Sour Series. I grabbed a 355mL can at the brewery and poured out a pale golden brew topped with a thin circlet of white suds. At just 3.8%, the beer is quaffable, or would be but for its tartness and salinity.

KWLG has a nose that twitches twixt briny and tart. It has a salty tang that balances a citrus swizzle. In short, it’s both sour and salty to the nose and through the flavour as well. For a low-alcohol brew, this one has intense flavours, kicking off with sea salt assertiveness and merging into lime acidity with just a sliver of sweetness that left me licking my lips.

The result is a shot of tequila short of a margarita. This beer is interesting and assertive. Despite its light weight, it certainly isn’t timid. The flavours pair pretty well, though I found the lime to have a slightly artificial vibe—there is no claim on the can that the lime flavour is natural, but using artificial stuff doesn’t mean it has to taste phony. All told, it was a pretty good gose with electric attitude.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Sleeping Lemons Export

All the way from Lower Westcombe Farm in Shepton Mallet, UK comes Sleeping Lemons Export, a 6% alcohol gose from The Wild Beer Co. According to the copy on the bottle, this beer was initially brewed domestically and was so popular that a higher alcohol “export” version was devised. The name Sleeping Lemons is apparently the English translation the Moroccan term “L’hamd Maraked”, which refers to the preserved format of those sour, yellow buddies, and the beer is indeed with brewed with preserved lemons and salt.

Each 330mL bottle of SLE contains a cloudy golden liquid that has some yeast and/or salt sediment and pours with just a murmur of off-white suds. This wheat beer has a colossal lemony scent that kicks off sharply, but allows for a little sweetness to seep in if you take a mighty whiff. The beer wasn’t nearly as tart or as briny as I expected. Those elements were definitely both present, but the balance was far more generous to sweetish lemonade than the aroma led me to expect. The label promises lemon curd and I think that’s what SLE delivers. The beer finishes with a solid sourness to seal the deal.

A refreshing and different pre-dinner treat, I thought this gose from The Wild Beer Co. was a playful and well-conceived bit of brewing. It didn’t leave me with much to complain about, so I’ll critique the copy-editing. Unless I’m much mistaken, both the English and French ingredients lists are missing a comma, unless the French version features “citron sel” and the English contains “salt hops”. If you’re looking for a starter gose, look no further, because this stuff is salty and sour, but it takes both slowly.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Western Suds: Sea Maiden

According to the copy on the cute teal and pink cans of Sea Maiden, this sour watermelon ale occupies the space where “watermelon meets pink Himalayan sea salt”. The 4.5% alcohol number comes from Richmond, BC, where it’s brewed by Britannia Brewing Company.

The beer is cloudy, with a pale orange gold colour and a whole lot of carbonation. It pours with a huge amount of loose white head, though the suds weren’t around for the long haul. Sea Mermaid has a tart, briny aroma that doesn’t really scream watermelon; however, a subtle hint of pink melon is woven throughout the flavour, and is particularly evident towards the finish. Along for the finish are gose-like notes that are both salty and sour.

Billed as a watermelon sour, I’d class this beer as a gose. It’s playful and quirky, with an unusual flavour topography. The concept is quite well executed, though the beer is sufficiently tart that sour beer neophytes might be put off. Personally, I enjoyed my dance with the Sea Maiden, though I’m unlikely to be requesting a second in the near future.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Spin Dive Summer Gose

Spending a coupla days cat- and hog-sitting for my frère and his roomie, I picked myself up a few cans of cold after the sad supply I was left, including a 473mL number of Spin Dive Summer Gose. A light beer at just 3.8% alcohol and 11 IBUs, Spin Dive comes from Lake of Bays Brewing Company in Baysville, Ontario.

Hazy and golden, with just a whisper of thin, off-white head. It has a briny waft that promises a blend of tart and spice. The flavour is salty and tangy, with a nice lime element, but it is unexpectedly mild, and this mildness is born out by a disappointingly thin body. 

Spin Dive is a refreshing little fella with a nice flavour foundation, but it lacks body and depth. Insufficiently sharp for a gose, though, and a bit underwhelming in the main. 

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Gose-Zilla

Cooking dinner on a Tuesday evening, I delved into Gose-Zilla, a 4.7% salty sour from Northern Maverick Brewing Co. in Toronto. Sold in 500mL bottles featuring NM's polar bear mascot in an I ️ Tokyo shirt, the beer was dull gold and poured with a blanket of white head.

My nose caught a lot of subtle notes in this beer. While primarily sour and briny, I also noticed tart strawberry and cherry elements. As for flavour, this beer was way less tart than I expected, and displayed very little of a gose's characteristic salinity. While the flavour wasn't strictly up to style, I did enjoy notes of ripening fruit--berry and cherry again--as well as a sharp, quick finish that quenched my thirst admirably.

 

 

While not a strong exemplar of a gose, Gose-Zila still managed to be a pretty tasty little brew. Heightened tartness and a more detectable salt presence would have helped this ale. Still, for a very young brewery attempting a pretty finicky style, I think this stuff was pretty well executed and it's likely to improve in the future.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Burlington Funk: Ceres Cucumber & Lime Gose

According to the copy on the 375mL bottle of Ceres Cucumber & Lime Gose, the name honours the Roman goddess of agriculture. Billed as a "soured light beer", Ceres comes from Burlington, Ontario's Nickel Brook Brewing Co. It contains a feather weight 4% alcohol and a preposterous 0 IBUs; however, despite those numbers, Ceres manages to pack in a significant amount of flavour.

Brewed with Himalayan sea salt, lime juice, cucumber juice, coriander, citra hops, and wheat, Ceres has a foolish amount of things going on. It has a nose that initially smacks of fresh cuke, but ends up encompassing some pretty substantial lime tartness as well. The flavour has the same elements, but reversed: the lime juice comes to the fore, while the crisp cuke-iness manifests as a a subtle presence. Ceres is tart, but not sour; briny but not salty. It can boast a genuinely unique flavour.

Billed as "thirst-quenching", I actually didn't find this gose to be all that refreshing. While the lime and cucumber juices lended a certain crispness, Ceres didn't strike me as particularly quaffable. At 4%, the beer is, on paper, easily sessioned; however, the powerful and unusual flavour combo would stall me at just one bottle. While this cucumber lime potion wasn't totally to my taste, it was innovative and odd, which made for a memorable sip. I might buy it again, but not for myself--this is a beer I'd enjoy running past someone else.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Burlington Funk: Duplicitous Citra Dry-Hopped Gose

Nickel Brook Brewing Co.'s Duplicitous Citra Dry-Hopped Gose has a curious distinction: despite the dry-hopping, it is the first beer that I've ever sipped with a listed IBU count of 0. Sold in strangely-sized 375mL bottles, Duplicitous is a light beer at just 4% alcohol. It's born and bred in Burlington, Ontario.

The gose has a sunny golden hue. It's quite hazy and pours with a vibrant white head. According to the label, this low-alcohol ale is brewed using both Himalayan sea salt and coriander. It has a sharp, citrus twang to the nose and a flavour that is both briny and tart. The mouthfeel is crisp, but also a bit thin, while the finish is short and sour.

I found Duplicitous to be a pretty engaging little gose. Neither too sour nor salty, but still meaningfully tangy, it left me feeling refreshed while I watched a Jays game on a Sunday afternoon.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Collective Project: Gose

The third installment of the Collective Project sixer from Collective Arts Brewing was their gose. I saved it for last because the checkout dude at my liquor store raved about the stuff when I was purchasing the pack. The 355mL bottle of 5.2% alcohol brew, once upended, revealed a glass full of hazy golden liquid, well carbonated but possessed of very limited head. According to the ingredients list, this little number is brewed up with coriander and Himalayan sea salt.

This Hamiltonian expression of a gose had a briny, faintly yeasty nose. It's flavour vacillated between seawater salty and lemony sour. The mouthfeel is thin and quite crisp. Finish is short and sharp.

The Collective Arts Gose is a pretty nice take on a potentially inaccessible style. It's salty, but not witheringly; sour, but not puckeringly; and fairly pleasant. Gose devotees might count these qualities as strikes, but as an occasional sipper, I found the beer quite agreeable, though the coriander could certainly have been better represented.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Les Trois Mousquetaires Gose

Gose is a style of beer that I'm quick to buy when I see it, but often hesitant to actually drink. I had a bottle of Les Trois Mousquetaires Gose in my fridge for months before I got around to uncapping the snazzy 375mL bottle and sampling the cloudy orange liquid within. Brewed in Brossard, Quebec by Les Trois Mousquetaires Microbrasseurs, the gose contained just 3.8% alcohol and 9 IBUs. It's a part of LTM's "Hors Series". It poured with only a slight covering of off white head.

Aromatically, the most obvious note is oceanic brine. There are also tart elements. Flavour-wise, salty and sour continue to be the dominant factors. According to the label, coriander is used in the brewing process, though I was unable to catch much spice flavour. Unsurprisingly, given the low percentage, LTM Gose has a thin mouthfeel, which wasn't entirely to my liking.

All told, LTM Gose was a fine sour ale, but not one that I'd be eager to fill my fridge with. Gose isn't my favourite style anyway, but a light ale in gose clothing won't bring me back to the well frequently. Still, I'm glad to have tried it.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Opa's Gose

Yet another interesting offering from Vankleek Hill, Ontario's Beau's All Natural Brewing Company, Opa's Gose is a part of the Wild Oats Series (No. 5). It contains 5% alcohol. Opa's' 600mL bottle comes with a small pouch of sea salt to be added to the brew to suit the drinker's taste. As a dutiful beer reviewer, I felt obliged to taste it first without any additional salt, and then again after mixing in a healthy dose.

It's a hazy, orange-gold concoction topped with a loose, bubbly, white head. The aroma has a salty brine to it, as well as a tart fruitiness reminiscent of sour cherries. According to the insert that accompanied the salt, Opa's is brewed with sea salt and coriander. It's a wheat beer and spiced beer combo.

Sans sel: Milder and less salty than suggested by the nose. The wheaty character comes out quite a bit, and there is a slight metallic spice. The aftertaste is faintly bitter and very dry.

Avec sel: This beer came with a 4g sack of sea salt. Seldom one to half-ass anything beer, I added the lot. Turns out I should probably have added it gradually--throwing in the whole bag caused a veritable eruption of white foam to flood over the top of my pint glass. Once the chemical reaction began to subside, I gave the mixture a stir and dove in. I found that the aroma was not much changed by the addition of the extra salt, though it was perhaps a touch more saline. The flavour, however, was hugely transformed. Sea salt went from being a faint additive to the headliner. This beer is briny! There is still a whisper of fruity tartness and a soupcon of dry bitterness, but salt clearly rules the day. Accordingly, this beer is not even remotely thirst-quenching.  What it is, though, is distinctive.

I've tried gose before, but never anything nearly this salty. It's not disagreeable, as drinking a pint of sea water would be. Instead, it's very flavourful, but ultimately too salty for me. Truth be told, though I enjoyed the stuff, I was glad to see the bottom of my glass. I'm glad that I tried Opa's, but it'll be a while before I try it again. Next time, maybe I'll limit the additional salt to 2g or so. I think I liked it better before I added dumped in all the salt.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Maverick & Gose

Maverick & Gose represents my first foray into the gose style. Gose is, according to that most august of sources, Wikipedia, an historic style of German beer that's brewed with at least 50% of its grain being malted wheat.

M & G is "a well crafted collaboration" between Amsterdam Brewery and Great Lakes Brewery, two of Toronto's most well-established purveyors of fine craft suds. When I saw it at the liquor store, I thought to myself, "I've never tried that", followed immediately by, "Who am I to resist a Top Pun?".

M & G comes in a pretty snazzy 500mL bottle and contains 5.9% alcohol. It's a cloudy and cheery orange-gold that looks a lot like a conventional wheat beer. The aroma has a sharp, salty tang and some tart citrus notes. As well, there is some considerable yeastiness. The label tells me that this enticing brew is made using pink Himalayan salt, some spices, and is aged in chardonnay barrels. I found it to have a light and lively mouthfeel, not unlike a typical wheat beer, but the flavour was very different. It was milder than I expected it to be--there were notes of citrus and wheat; however, there is a genuinely salty brine that makes the finish quite unusual. There's even a slight dose of bitterness in there at the end. I didn't taste a lot of the spices that I was expecting.

Despite the saltiness, this stuff managed to be relatively thirst-quenching and crisp. It's a mild and easy-going beer with a unique flavour that doesn't taste anywhere near its 5.9% alcohol content. I'd pair this beer with fish. My neighbour started grilling some fillets partway through my pint and the combo was mouth watering. Kudos to Amsterdam and GLB, firstly for collaborating, and secondly, for working on an uncommon style.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.