December 3 - Riepstine's Salz Weizen

After last night's fiasco anything will be an upgrade from that mess.

Before reviewing the beer tonight, there's something to note here. For what it's worth, I'm starting to see more and more craft brewers start to can their beer. From a sustainability standpoint, I think this is great, especially for the environment. I won't get too green on you, but if you get a chance, check out the pros and cons on canning here.

Tonight, a new style of beer for me that I'm not overly familiar with, a gose.  I had to do some quick research after the tasting to figure out if what I tasted was accurate to check if my palate was right.  It seemed pretty darn accurate to style.  

Staying with a local favorite this evening, this beer comes from Riepstine's Pub in Williamsport. Their gose beer is called Salz Weizen and clocks in at a modest 4.5%.  I've only had the chance to visit the brewpub once, but the staff was outstanding and the choices were quality ones for sure.  The brewmaster, Bart (who I only know to see...he doesn't know me) is also a very personable guy who clearly takes pride in his work.  He also brews one of my all-time favorite DIPAs, Alpha Deuce.  

Anyway, here Gose...

Using a splinter glass, the beer poured a hazy, golden with a thin head on the top which quickly disappeared.  The aroma was definitely a floral one, but it didn't seem like a hoppy floral.  It resembled more of a lavender aroma to me, which was definitely pleasing.  

My taste buds were overloaded with a strong, salty taste immediately which lasted all the way through the end and even held on for a brief period after the finish and lingered on the tongue.  The saltiness made it very sour-like as well adding to the fruity tartness.  There were some citrusy notes here too, a slight lemon.  The beer was effervescent and surprisingly refreshing for the salty quality it had.  

As the beer warmed up slightly, the flavor profile changed slightly.  The saltiness mellowed significantly (maybe that was because my taste buds acclimated to it), and I was able to notice the spicy characteristics come through in the coriander which this beer was brewed with.  As with this particular style, there isn't much of a hop finish to balance the beer, since the acidic finish does the balancing act here instead.  Even the aroma had more of an acidic tartness as the beer warmed.

I believe that I finished this beer just in time, however.  As it got warmer, there was something that was telling me that there was going to be a point of no return and the flavors would start to not meld well.  I may be wrong, but I just had that hunch.  

Never having a gose beer before, I'm definitely expecting myself to seek out a few more of these in the future.  This beer was definitely a good choice to start with and didn't turn me off to the style whatsoever.

Since this was very true to style and an enjoyable first experience with a gose, I'll give this a solid 3.75 out of 5!  

Dressing up sea salt for Christmas!