Gose! It seems to be the in thing these days. Until recently, you could count on one hand the number of American breweries that made a Gose. Indeed, even in Germany where the style originated these beers are rare. Still, more and more American brewers are offering them up, and now even a few of the big players are jumping on the bandwagon. Samuel Adams recently released their summer 12-pack with two bottles of Got to Gose included (they did release Verloren Gose a few years ago in 22-ounce bottles). Sierra Nevada Otra Vez Gose-Style Ale was released in winter 2015 as their entrant into the category.
Sierra Nevada Otra Vez Gose-Style Ale is a bit different than your average Gose. That’s because it’s brewed with cactus and grapefruit in addition to the traditional coriander and salt. Gose gets a special dispensation for deviating from the German beer purity law, the Reinheitsgebot of 1516 that celebrates its 500th anniversary this year. That allows the addition of the salt and coriander most traditional German Goses contain. A few German Goses I’ve tried have had other ingredients added, too; Freigeist Geister Zug for example contains spruce.
From the bottle label:
In California, where temperatures often top triple digits, perfecting the warm weather beer is a priority. We happened upon a sweet-tangy blend of native-grown prickly pear cactus and grapefruit combined with the zing of a traditional gose for a vicious but delicious twist on the stodgy summer sippers.
Ingredients from the website:
Yeast Ale yeast
Bittering Hops Experimental variety
Finishing Hops Experimental variety
Malts Two-row Pale, Wheat
Other Cactus, Grapefruit, Coriander
Sierra Nevada Otra Vez Gose-Style Ale has an alcohol content of 4.5% by volume with 5 IBUs. It runs $8.99 a six-pack in these parts, a fair deal for sure. My bottle was packaged on 11/25/2015 and I drank it on my birthday, Monday March 14th 2016. This is a year-round release, so it will indeed still be available when summer rolls around. “Otra Vez” is Spanish for “again” or “anew”, so implies gose is back again. Just like I said above.
Sierra Nevada Otra Vez Gose-Style Ale pours to a pale yellow color with a medium fizzy and short lived head of foam and a tart nose of sour wheat, citrus and salt. Taking a sip, the beer has a very tart wheaty flavor up front laced with a light saltiness and hints of vegetal agave-like cactus and soft grapefruit citrus. The beer finishes slightly sour-tart and very refreshing.
A tasty quencher I think, though I’d like a more puckering sourness in a Gose. Still, I like the way that the cactus really comes through as does the salt. Perhaps 3.5 stars for me as a gose goes, but for drinkability and hedonistic refreshment (as well as very reasonable price) I’ll tack on an extra half star. Would I buy it again? That gose without saying…..
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
(G)=Growler