Last summer, I became pretty obsessed with goses. A nice gose is the perfect solution to the question: “What do I drink in the park?” They are also great for taking to parties, cookouts, and pretty much anywhere else where you plan on having three or more beers in a sitting rather than just one or two.
The low ABV of a gose makes it possible to have a few and continue to function like a responsible adult (presuming that was something you would typically do sober), but you can still be part of the party. Oh, and they’re also really freaking delicious. My favorite gose of the year last year was Anderson Valley’s Briny Melon Gose, a slightly-salted watermelon beer that I went out of my way to keep stocked at my house for any day-drinking opportunities. Another easy-to-get option: Sierra Nevada’s Otra Vez.
Recently, I was planning on going on a long drinking train trip with some friends and went on a search for cans to bring along for the journey. To my dismay, most of my local spots have replaced their goses with winter stouts. What I did manage to find, however, was a gose I hadn’t tried before: Geyser Gose, a collaboration between Evil Twin Brewing and Two Roads.
Unlike most of the goses you see around, the duo sourced some pretty unique ingredients for this one. The ale is brewed with Icelandic moss, herbs, kelp, and sea salt. Admittedly, that’s not the most appetizing collection of ingredients, but the fact that Evil Twin was involved was enough for me to pony up the $14 at my local bottle shop ($14 for a four-pack!) to give it a try.
The result? It’s actually kind of nice. It’s (obviously) not as fruity as most goses I’ve tried, but still has a nice tart flavor on par with other sours. After that first sip you get a little bit of smoke on the finish. The medium-bodied beer is herbaceous, and honestly feels a bit more like a season than a gose, but I don’t mind.
Overall, it’s a refreshing beer, and at 5.5% it’s one you can have a few of.
Brewery: Evil Twin and Two Roads
City: Copenhagen, Denmark and Stratford, CT
Style: Gose
ABV: 5.5%
Availability: 1 pint cans