Salt Of The Earth

Salt (sodium chloride) is a ubiquitous mineral on this planet, essential for human life, and one of the basic tastes that even babies can differentiate. As a seasoning and flavor in the human diet, salt may be the most important of all. Its uses are endless, of historical importance; let’s just say that the stuff is central to life as we know it.
But what about salt and beer? The relationship may prove peculiar at first thought. I recall, maybe years ago, possibly in high school, some jerk adding salt to his macro lager, claiming it made it taste better; couldn’t get much worse. But upon trying the addition, salt joined ice cubes and lime juice as some of the worst accompaniments to my favorite beverage.
However, there is a style of beer where salt is a key ingredient. And you’ll likely be unsurprised to find that this beer hails from Germany. Teutonic knowledge for all things beer is unsurpassed, but I’ll forgive you for thinking that a salty beer just sounds off.
Be that as it may, Gose (pronounced goes uh), as a viable style of beer is making a comeback in a huge way, and salt is an important part of it, both then and now.
Gose, the beer, originated in the mid-northern German town of Goslar, and was named after the river more than a millennium ago. While the Goslar beer faded, the nearby town of Leipzig picked up the style in the 1800’s, and is still today the center of the Gose world.
The beer itself is an ale, specifically an unfiltered wheat at that. In the grand scheme of wheat beers, if the hefeweizen beers are on the creamy and sweeter end, with Belgian witbier in the middle and Berliner Weiss on the dry, sour and bitter side, Gose will fall closest here. Salty and sour, ground coriander is also a component; Gose is dry, clean, slightly spicy, and just a touch salty. Certainly don’t expect a margarita!
Until recently, searching for Gose in
America would prove fruitless. However, within the last year, Gose has gained new interest in our craft beer world. As brewers in this country continually seek to stand out in what’s becoming an increasingly crowded party, all styles, extant and otherwise are fair game, and the stranger and more bizarre the better. Why would you not brew a salt beer?
My first introduction to Gose outside of Germany was the Sam Adams Verloren. True to type or not, this was a pretty awful beer, vinegar seemed prominent, and you might imagine my reluctance to give the style another try. Yet, good beer always rises to the top.
I began to hear rumblings on the interwebs that sour was the new hoppy, and all things tart had ascended the throne. Without going too far into this discussion, let’s just say I’m hot and cold on the sour movement. I consider myself to have a pretty decent palate, and know my taster well, but the “more sour the better” reminds me much of the “gimme more hops, more hops” society of recent years.
However, a dose of skepticism was rewarded upon discovering Mt. Pleasant’s Westbrook Brewing Co.’s Gose, and more recently Gozu, essentially the same beer as Gose, but with the addition of yuzu fruit. Sour, citrusy, tart indeed, and to that I’ll add fantastic. A strange mix, but a perfect one served chilled on a hot day. Dry and clean, Gozu is tingly, lemony, wheaty and of course, salty and sour. A fun beer, but mildly complex as well; this beer is much hoppier than its German contemporaries, and I believe that’s what wins the day.
At time of writing, I have just picked up a six-pack of Anderson Valley’s The Kimmie, The Yink, and the Holy Gose. If Verloren is bad, and Gozu is delicious, I’ll rate KYHG as good. Closer to the traditional German versions, less hoppy than the Westbrook, but a better overall beer than that from the Boston Beer Company, it’s that much more proof that the low gravity, zesty and salty little beer Gose is worth the work. Enjoy the brews … Cheers.
 Gene’s is located at 817 Savannah Hwy.
225-GENE. E-mail the Beer Snob
at publisher@westof.net.