Wake Up and Smell the Gose

 It's a weekend. Just in case that passed you by! And, well, I have some excellent ales bought in from the Crafty One, a fantastic pub in the shape of The Burnt Pig and so, obviously, I'm deciding to drink an ale I got on special at the local supermarket. Because of course I am. Now, full disclosure, I have never been a fan of Gose as a style of ale, but these were on offer!

I refer, of course, to Wake Up and Smell the Gose from those wonderful people at Eviltwin Brewing. I remember them mainly because of the Molotov Cocktail I had that one time in Leeds (link). But here I am trying a Gose. Would you like to know more?

On the opening of the can (and it's all canned nowadays) one is hit by the aroma, as always. This grows on the pour and it took me a while before I could properly place it - it is, of course, a blueberry bush. Not the blueberries themselves, more on ytem later, but the bush. We have one growing in the garden and, this year, we had a decent crop from it. Being out in the garden during the hot weather that was and is the harbinger of mass extinction this year meant that I got to smell it more than I am used to, and this ale smells a lot like that bush. This is not an unpleasant experience, it's a comforting and welcome smell. When one lifts this to drink it is accompanied by the smell of a bush and then salt, plenty of salt. Again, not unwelcome, but decidedly different.

Once in the mouth, and that is the best place for any ale, one is allowed to have something of a three-part journey. It opens with a distinct fruity burst, definite blueberries here. The actual berries, not the bush, and with plenty of carbonation. This seems hop forward and is very much part of the added puree that the can tells me was used. Again, this is unexpected from a Gose (well, by me, who has avoided them for the best part of a few years) but not unwelcome. Then the middle hits and it's all Saison and slightly citric but heavily salty. This is the part of the profile that I find the least enticing and the bit that reminds me the most of the Gose that I had a long time ago (did I even review that?) in that it is a bit too salty. But, for that, there is that hint of a sour edge and I am long a convert to sours, so that is good. In short, the middle part of the taste is very confusing for me but not unpleasant. then it ends, abruptly, with a slight yeastiness and some lactose to fill things out and the softer part of the blueberry tang on the opening lingering by the back of the throat.

In the aftertaste, one still has to reckon with the salt from the middle, but there is plenty of the blueberry puree and lactose remaining to soften it and spread it out. Now, I am a big fan of salt in my food: from bacon to eggs to... oh, well, basically a Full English Breakfast. I like salt. I have not usually enjoyed it in an ale before. But this... this works. I... I like it. It does say that it is an Imperial Breakfast Gose and, well, it is a Sunday (I may have had a Full English Breakfast for tea just now) and so it does rather fit the general mileu of the day. Mind you, is it Imperial at 6.5% ABV? I don't know. I'm not going to argue with a brewery that is this good however and they say it is. So I guess it is.

Would I have this for breakfast? You know, I perhaps would. In the right circumstances, I think it would be a proper morning ale and the sort that wouldn't leave you trying to get through the day half cut and with nary a thought you can hold together. As it is, I am having it late on a Sunday afternoon having done nothing of any great consequence (the lawn remains unmowed, the floors unvacuumed, etc etc) and it is pleasant and welcome. The biggest thing here is the fact that I bought one on offer yesterday and had it with tea too - prompting me to buy more today. And, as I say, I'm not a Gose fan. A back-handed compliment it may be, but it is a big one.