Leipziger Gose

This is one of the hardest to find beers of Summer, but it is worth seeking out for a delightful change of pace. This past week has been hazy, hot and humid on the Bayshore. The Dawg days of August call for heavy duty refreshment. This is the time of year when something light, crisp and perhaps a touch acidic can take the edge off the oppressive heat.

Gose is a style of beer unique to Leipzig, Germany and environs. It can trace its origins back to 1842, the same year as another perennial favorite style, the Pilsner, was first being brewed in Pilsen, Bohemia (Now the Czech Republic) to the South. It is also the same year that a famous all male Military Academy was founded in Charleston, South Carolina ... but I digress. Gose was once brewed by more than 20 local breweries. The Leipzig area fell upon hard times in the wake of the Second World War and the style all but vanished. Since reunification it has made a comeback with two regional brwers distributing Gose both in the region and the export market.

The style is reminiscent of the Weiss beers of neighboring Bavaria in that the grain bill is comprised of between 50 and 60 per cent malted wheat. The other malts are a Pilsener and a small proportion of Munich. The hops are Northern Brewer (for bitterness) and Perle, from the nearby Elbe-Saale growing area. Like most wheat beers, Gose has very little hop bitterness. In this particular style, the balancing dryness is provided by the ground coriander seeds and salt, which are added in the in the final stages of the mash.

If the proof of the pudding is in the eating, the proof of the beer is in the drinking. The beer was bottled in a long necked 25.4 ounce "flasche" with a porcelain stopper and a painted lable. The bottle looked like something you would find at an antique fair. Quite lovely actually. I chose a thin - walled .4 liter "Stange" to savor this beer as that was the closest thing I had to the Glass that was depicted in the hand of the very happy looking man in the label illustration.

The beer poured a hazy, sunshine yellow...not unlike the weather we have been having. The head was thick and creamy and it clung to the sides of the glass in thick clumps. The aroma was cirusy, spicy with malty/bready undertones. The palate is acidic and sharply sour with hints of spice and traces of salt. The sourness was profound and refreshing. This truly is a beer to take the edge off the heat.

I obtained my sample of Gose at Super Saver off route 22 East in Somerville. The distributor for this product is Hunterdon Brewing
. I have also seen it in the smaller half-liter bottle at Spirits Unlimited in Red Bank.