Next Round: The Gose of Craft Beer's Future

Mike Snider | USA TODAY

Craft beer lovers who want to goose their taste buds may want to seek out a haunting style called gose.

American craft brewers have begun to embrace — and put their own twist on —- the salty and often sour ancient German wheat beer.

Gose (pronounced "gose-uh" as in "rose" plus "uh") originated more than 1,000 years ago in the city of Goslar — about 170 miles west of Berlin — along the Gose River, according to its history on The German Beer Institute website.

Yeast and lactic bacteria, which delivers the sourness, are used, as well as the spice coriander and some hops. That sour flavor and the saltiness, originally caused by the natural water used, resulted in a refreshing, low-alcohol beverage.

The beer became especially popular in Leipzig, about 115 miles south of Goslar, with more than 80 taverns devoted to the style there in 1900, the institute says. Gose faded during World War II and only arose after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Like sour beers, which originated in Belgium to the west, gose has gained favor among American brewers. I had my first gose last fall, a Hibiscus Gose from Boulevard Brewing Co. in Kansas City, Mo. I found it not unpleasantly salty and sour and, with its pinkish hue, pleasing to the eye.

Initially, the beer was brewed as a Christmas present to Boulevard employees. But pilgrims who made their way to the company tasting room — where rarities and experiments are on tap — liked it so much that it became a limited release last year.

"I imagine it was the first gose for a lot of Midwestern folks," said Boulevard ambassador brewer Jeremy Danner. While some would embrace the style, he said, "we knew that some people were going to hate it."

Gose is divisive. Last year, Paste magazine deemed it "the Year of the Gose," but earlier this year online news-goods site Thrillist declared "Craft Beer is Dead. Gose Killed It."

You can make up your own mind, as it's become easier to find gose because more breweries make the beer. Here's some recent ones I put to the taste test:

Bayerischer Bahnhof Original Leipziger Gose. This classic gose (4.5% alcohol by volume) is made by the Gasthaus & Gosebrauerei Bayerischer Bahnhof in Leipzig, Germany. Its mellow aroma is met with a slightly sour taste and a hint of salt with Pilsnerish backbone. I found it for $4.99 at my favorite beer emporium, Norm's Beer & Wine in Vienna, Va.

Anderson Valley Highway 128 The Kimmie, The Yink, and the Holy Gose (12 oz. cans, 4.2% ABV). The name is a nod to the Holy Trinity, using the Boonville, Calif., brewery's local dialect. This beer, available April-October, has a stronger sour aroma and is saltier and tart. Like most gose beers, this is unfiltered, so it's a cloudy pale yellow.

Sixpoint Jammer (12 oz. can, 4.2%). A new release from the Brooklyn, N.Y., brewery, Jammer has a peppery, floral aroma and a moderately salty taste. I'd recommend this or the Leipziger Gose as an entry-level gose for the timid.

Westbrook Gose (12 oz. can, 4%). This Mount Pleasant, S.C., brewery has been releasing this gose since 2012. I was sent several cans by friend and fellow beer chronicler Chris Morris. I found it as tart as a sour beer with a hint of lemon.

Bluejacket Further. This not-yet-2-year-old Washington, D.C., brewery's reputation and reach has expanded since it began doing some bottling of its beers. This 3.8% ABV papaya gose, tasted at a recent beer festival the brewery hosted, got its subtle fruit flavor from the 150 pounds of papaya used. Sea salt gives it a pleasant saltiness.

Evil Twin Mission Gose (bottles and draft, 4%). Especially aromatic, as it is infused with eucalyptus, this gose was poured at the aforementioned festival. It's brewed for the New York brewery by Westbrook. I found it complex; salty, then sour, then tart.

Next Round will take a regular look at new and recently released craft beers. And if there's one on your radar, or if you have suggestions or questions, contact Mike Snider via email. And follow Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.