From Brew Your Own magazine May-June 2011
"....It has been over 1,000 years since this ale was first brewed. Then name itself comes from the river Gose that runs through the town (Goslar, Germany), and rightfully so considering the large contribution that the local water has on the beer's flavor. This particular area was known for mining and one of the most abundant minerals present was salt. Not surprisingly, some of this salt disssolved into the local groundwater which was used during the brewing of their local beer. Since they didn't have water softeners or bottled water, they just used what they had and made it work."
"Speaking of sense, lets talk about wat ours should experience when cracking open a Gose. (Despite the ever growing number of styles being added to the BJCP guidelins for us to reference, Gose has yet to make the cut). The aroma of the style should be clean, with a detectable level of floral/spicy notes from the use of ciriander during brewing. Esters and fusel alcohols should be very low. The unmistakable noble hop character found in most other German beers should not be present in the least bit. As with most beer styles, the signature buttery smell of diacetyl should also be absetn from the aroma profile. Generally speaking, the flavor of a gose is moderately sour, crisp, and with a slight hint of salt and spiciness from the coriander in teh background. Citrusy flavors such as lemon and grapefruit are often present. Bitterness should be very lowand hop flavor can range from barely perceivable to non-existent. The mouthfeel of the style is dry, refreshing, light to medium bodied, with a fair amount of carbonation. The appearance can be straw to deep gold in color (3-6 SRM), with clarity that varies from cloudy to semi-translucent."
And I have now proven that I have nothing to do on my Friday nights.
The article also includes recipes, all grain and extract with grains. PM me if you are interested.
