Try?
I’ll throw in the towel: Anderson Valley the Kimmie, the Yink and the Holy Gose Ale is one of the strangest names for a brew that I’ve ever come across. No surprise that it comes from Anderson Valley, then, since this Boonville, California brewer is fond of using the local and obscure dialect of “Boontling” to name or describe their beers.
In this case, a rare obscure dialect is fitting to name the beer, since Gose is a rare and obscure style that only a handful of brewers make today. I’ll let Anderson Valley tell you more about the style shortly, but before I do let’s break down the name. Believe it or not Wikipedia actually has a short Boontling dictionary, and they define “kimmie” as follows: a man, more often applied to a stranger. They have no entry for “yink”, but a bit of binging reveals that a yink is a young man. So, the stranger (or man), the young man, and the holy Gose: The Father, The Son, and the Holy Ghost? That seems to be the consensus.
It’s rare that I come across a gose. Of the 5000 different beers I’ve tasted as I type, only five or so have been in the gose style. And that includes this one. Anderson Valley does a great job describing Gose below:
Originating in the town of Goslar, Germany in the early 16th century, the Gose style (pronounced “Go-zuh”) was traditionally brewed using salted water and 50% malted wheat and was spiced with coriander and hops. It was fermented with both traditional yeast and lactic bacteria, giving it a slight tartness, similar to that of a Berliner Weisse. The brewing of Gose eventually migrated to Leipzig, Germany by the turn of the 18th century and became the most popular style in the region by 1900, only to virtually disappear after World War II brought destruction to the breweries and hard economic times.
One of the reasons may be that this is a difficult style to brew. Bacteria is microflora non grata in a brewery and can wreak havoc on most styles of brew. Anderson Valley solved the problem for the production of The Kimmie, the Yink and the Holy Gose by souring their wort in the brew kettle before the boil. Once that was done, they simply fired up the kettle and boiled those hardworking bacteria to death.
Anderson Valley the Kimmie, the Yink and the Holy Gose Ale has an alcohol content of 4.2% by volume making it perfect for summer sipping. The beer is a seasonal sold from April to October, or while supplies last. I paid $9.99 for a six-pack of cans at Total Wine. The beer is part of the Anderson Valley “Highway 128 Session Series” of beers from AVBC.
Anderson Valley the Kimmie, the Yink and the Holy Gose Ale pours to a pale yellow golden color with a thick but short-lived head of rocky foam and a lively nose of tart wheat and salt. Taking a sip, the beer is rather full bodied up front, more from the salt I think than anything else. There’s some light crackery wheat flavor up front followed by more salt, a hint of coriander and a very dry and tart sourness in the finish. The saltiness is the big story here, the beer is really permeated with it and you can never escape it. Still, it does not overpower and works well with the sour character to make this a very refreshing brew indeed.
If you’ve never tried a gose, be sure to seek out one of the German versions. I’ve seen Leipziger Gose here in the USA and it’s a very good example to start from. If you can’t get that, Anderson Valley the Kimmie, the Yink and the Holy Gose Ale is well worth trying to get an idea of the style as well. Be sure not to miss it, or you might get called a back-dated chuck the next time you’re in Boonville.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
