Cigar City Margarita Gose

This is probably more of a beer for the spring or summer, but when something new from Cigar City pops up in your berg, you try it out, regardless of season.  And so we have the Margarita Gose.  Pouring a wheaty gold with a frothy white head, the 4.5% ABV beer smells of tart lemon and lime.  The flavor is a mix of said lemon and lime, salt, and a slightly sour punch.  And it's ridiculously easy to drink too.  Bring on the spring.

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Goses Are Red

I'm always game for trying different styles of beer.  Honestly it's half the reason i do this little blog.  Anyway, i recently tried Goses Are Red, a sour, fruited gose style beer from The Bruery that's basically the beer version of a rosé.  The 5.6% ABV brew pours a clear amber with shades of pink and quickly dissipating, very carbonated head.  Aromas of fruit, spice, coriander, and a mild funk pair well with those same flavors of fruit and spice, along with some grape notes and an all around tartness that's clean and crisp from start to finish.  Drink this one with dinner.

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Parleaux Beer Lab Berry Curie

I just got back from a lovely weekend in New Orleans, and as i was only there about 48 hours, just barely skimmed the surface of the city's craft beer scene.  I did make it to a couple of places though, and one of those was the Parleaux Beer Lab in the Bywater neighborhood.  A wonderful selection of beers to choose from, i started with the Berry Curie, a boysenberry/blueberry sour gose.  The brew pours a reddish pink with a light white head and smells of fruit, citrus, flowers, and sugar.  The beer is sweet from the added berries with a pleasant all around tartness with maybe just a hint of salt.  And at 3.8% ABV, this is one of those springtime day drinkers that goes great with backyards and sunshine.  I will have to get back there someday.

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Community Silly Gose

Gose style brews are pretty much a perfect kind of beverage for summertime...if you're into saltiness and tartness and all of that good stuff.  Over the weekend, i had some Silly Gose, a salty and tart wheat beer brewed with tangerines and apricots from Dallas's Community Beer Co.  Pouring gold with a white head, the 5% ABV brew smells of tropical fruit and bread with some hints of overall sourness.  The taste is tart, but never overly so, the fruit notes meshing well with the sour and salt, and with a light bodied and crisp finish.  It's a great backyard brew.

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Sierra Nevada Otra Vez

I just finished up a week of music and beer drinking at SXSW, and i've got to say that ending it on Saturday in the heat at a parking lot show with Sierra Nevada's Otra Vez, a gose style ale with lime and agave was a good move on my part.  It beat the heat.  Straw colored and smelling of grass, lime, and maybe a little fruit, the light bodied brew tastes of malt, spice, lime, citrus, salt, and a grassy wheat all with a slightly sour and fizzy finish.  And at 4.5% ABV, i could have drank these all day.

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Red Horn Watermelon Crawl Gose

I know in the Fall i'm usually bonkers for pumpkin ales and Oktoberfests, and when it finally starts getting cooler here in central Texas, darker, heavier brews are usually my favorites, but when one of your local brewers makes a watermelon gose, you drink the damn watermelon gose.  And it certainly helps when it's as fantastic as the Watermelon Crawl Gose from Red Horn here in Cedar Park.  Coming in at 4.75% ABV, and pouring a hazy gold, the beer smells of wheat, yeast, fruit, and some floral hints.  Crisp and tart, but not overly so, the watermelon notes mesh nicely with the salt and sour, making for a ridiculously easy beer to drink.  I could drink this all day, Fall or not.

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Real Ale Gose

Not sure why this pic came out so dark.

This summer, i've noticed that several brewers are offering their own take on the Gose.  A Gose-style beer is a specialty brew that was originally made in northern regions of Germany.  It's a sour wheat beer that has notes of coriander and a unique saltiness caused by the water used locally from that region.  The Real Ale Gose from the awesome folks at Real Ale is a central Texas take, adding lime juice into the mix to make a tart and tasty, one of a kind brew.  The beer pours a wheaty gold and smells of bread, yeast, and citrus.  Sour and salty, the lime and salt shine, but the wheat and yeasty notes keep it grounded.  This is an awesome beer for these hot, summer days, and at 4.4% ABV, it's highly sessionable.

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