First, I wanted to get an idea of everyone’s level of beer experience. Half the folks present had already tried gose before, and, of that half, one hundred percent had liked it — a good sign. More often than not, I’ve only seen most of these folks with Milwaukee’s Best Ice in hand. (No offense, guys.)

With that subtly judgmental question out of the way, it was on to the tasting.

“Pick your poison. Tell me what you doin’.”

7th Place: Stillwater Artisanal Ales — Moneytree$

It was impossible not to put Money Trees on as we cracked into this one. This beer from Baltimore had a hip can, but opinions were split when it came to the quality of the liquid it contained. Responses ranged from “favorite one so far” to “not a fan of grapefruit, ya bish.” And so, Moneytree$ came in last place on our list.

6th Place: Two Roads Brewing Company — Two Evil Geyser Gose

Another hip can, another split decision on its contents. This beer, which is a collaboration between Two Roads and Evil Twin, was reviewed as being “very meh” and “definitely not something I could drink all day,” but one of our most experienced beer drinkers in the group proclaimed that it was a good representation of the style. I enjoyed it, personally. Still, it came in second to last place.

5th Place Hoppin’ Frog Brewery — King Gose Home

Now we come to the only local (to Akron, OH) gose I could find, and possibly the only one brewed here. With this beer, which was named in honor of Lebron James returning to Ohio, the tasters were all starting to like what they were drinking. The tamest response to this beer was that it fits all style guidelines for a gose, the most excited: “Hooray!”

(FULL DISCLOSURE: Our “beer expert” works for Hoppin’ Frog.)

Pizza is kind of messy sometimes.

4th Place (Tied!): Anderson Valley Brewing Company — Briney Melon Gose and Blood Orange Gose

Anderson Valley had two beers in the tasting and, coincidentally, they tied. Based on the comments, Briney Melon Gose was the favorite of the two, but lost out on a few points because “ABV [wasn’t] high enough.” Some folks are just tryin’ to get drunk, ya know?

2nd Place: DESTIHL Brewery — Here Gose Nothin’

This was the sourest of all the beers we tried. Seriously, this shit is sour. Our expert said it pushed the very edges of the sour guidelines for a gose. Still, it was well received enough to come in second place.

1st Place: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company — Otra Vez

Everyone agreed that Sierra Nevada killed it with this one. Well balanced, slightly salty and sour, with a very pleasant herbal character, Otra Vez won our tasting by a pretty wide margin. We all agreed we’d be drinking this beer all summer.

I’m an image editing pro, obviously.

The exit poll consisted of just one question: Drunk yet? One respondent reported being drunk — Kenny, but I think he was drinking before he showed up — and one said they were sober. The rest were “other.” Ain’t that just the way.