365 different beers from 365 different breweries in 365 days with random musings on beer, food, music, sports, dogs and anything else interesting along the way
Beer #720 Ritterguts Gose / Brauhaus Hartmannsdorf, Hartmannsdorf, Germany
Previously from this brewery: N/A, this beer is the first out the limo
Hopefully you all survived the mall today. Or, hopefully you realized there's this thing called the internet, and you can buy things there instead of getting into a knife fight over a parking spot at the mall.
Today's beer is an interesting pour; a Ritterguts Gose from Brauhaus Hartmannsdorf. It has a dark gold hue, with virtually no head. There is a light, light aroma of wheat and citrus, and when you drink it you get a tart, slightly funky taste. Interesting that I noticed white grapes more than the salty qualities that are usually found in this style of beer. Solid, easy drinking (4.2% ABV) choice, even if it likely won't be on tap frequently near you.
I didn't get a picture of this beer, so instead, I'll leave you with this picture of Goose from Top Gun, because that's close to Gose and I've been on a Top Gun kick lately.
Talk to me, Gose
This brewery may date back to 1887, but I don't speak German (unlike their website) so I can't confirm that.
Thing to Think About Today:
If you are at the mall today, good luck - and buy me something nice. I leave you with one of my favorite gags from How I Met Your Mother, the episode where they find out Robin had a career as a teen pop idol back in Canada (sort of their version of Tiffany). I leave you with the faux-video from her faux-hit song Let's Go To the Mall.
It's a gorgeous Saturday, and I'm hard at work on a number of different tasks, so I'm jumping in and getting to the good stuff. Today's beer is a bottle of Marionberry Hibiscus Gose from Widmer Brothersin Oregon. This one was shipped to BlogNamedBrew manor as part of beer mail - for those who don't know, there's an underground network of beer geeks who mail each other hard to find beers from their respective corners of the world. I freely admit that when I saw the name, I said aloud to no one, "Why on earth did they name their beer after Marion Barry?" For those who don't get the reference: Marion Barry was the Mayor of Washington, D.C. who was arrested for smoking crack, sent to jail, and then later re-elected as Mayor again! For kids out there who don't believe they can overcome obstacles, I will remind you that this dude was the mayor, smoked crack and got arrested, went to jail, and then was re-elected. Fascinating. Let that sink in for a few minutes before you continue reading.
As you may have guessed, this beer has nothing to do with politics or crack, but rather marionberry, a blackberry commonly grown in Oregon. Glad we got that straight, and now back to your regularly scheduled beer review. When you pour this beer, you get a fruit punch color, with just the thinnest white line of head on the edge of the beer. There's a fruity, floral aroma with just a hint of spice. The taste starts out dry, but you eventually get a tart sweetness from the berries. There's a saltiness to this beer that helps cut some of the sweetness and make it incredibly enjoyable. Very interesting and unusual beer, and well worth a try if you can find yourself a bottle. Just stay away from the crack. Crack kills.... or gets you re-elected.
That's not Kool-Aid
For those who haven't yet found themselves drinking a gose, this style of beer originated in Germany. It belongs to the same family tree as other sour wheat beers such as witbier, gueuze, and Berliner weisse. I like them because of the hint of salt; always a welcome flavor in my world.
Thing to Think About Today: Okay, so my second thought after realizing this beer had nothing to do with Marion Barry was to say out loud, "The snozzberries taste like snozzberries!", a reference to the classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory scene with the lickable wallpaper. One of my favorite movies as a kid, partially because my mom worked for Hershey and I desperately wanted it to be an awesome, crazy place like in the movie. I don't think it was, but she seemed to like it there anyway. The incomparable Gene Wilder, the floor is yours....
Last Sunday I happened to find myself driving home listening to XPN, which is a rare occurrence. My XPN listening tends to be a Monday through Friday endeavor. I caught a new-to-me show Sound Bites, which is produced by Chicago Public Radio. They were discussing Johnny Cash's Live from Folsom Prison album, which just so happens to be celebrating its 45th anniversary. It also happens to be one of my favorite Johnny Cash albums--raw, gut-wrenching and beautiful storytelling.
As the Sound Bite hosts waxed nostalgic about the album, they dropped a bit of mind-bending knowledge on me. Shel Silverstein--beloved children's author, most notably of The Giving Tree--wrote A Boy Named Sue for Johnny Cash. What, what!?!
Chew on that while I sip on this...
This is Widmer Brothers Brewing'sW Series Marionberry Hibiscus Gose. It's the first beer from my cross country beer trade that I cracked open. It's an ale brewed with coriander with hibiscus and
marionberry added.
What's the W Series? From the Brewmance website, I learned the following. It is an exciting take on the popular tradition of seasonal beer offerings. Every spring since 2005, Widmer Brothers' brewers have been asked to select one special recipe to be released as part of this series. Anything goes; from traditional beer styles to experimental. The brewmasters' W Series has produced several exceptional beers, including: Drifter Pale Ale, Brrr Seasonal Ale, and Pitch Black IPA, which have each gone on to be a part of the brewery's regular lineup.
The label also states "perfecting the art of tart" which is going to win me over in any battle. Tart beer = happiness for me.
It poured a rosy, sort of fruit punch looking ale with a thin pale pink head. It was bottled on March 18, 2013. It smells of fruit and something organic...something green and fresh. The flavor is slightly
saline, fruity and green. The green, herbally flavor has to be the coriander, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to my grave being the person who can never distinguish coriander in a flavor profile. And if it weren't for spellcheck, I'm also pretty sure I'll always attempt to spell it with a double r. Overall it has a nice subtle berry flavor with a bit of complexity from the mild salinity. There's just a hint of tartness and it is lovely.
Yesterday, Angelina Jolie revealed to the world that she had a preventative double masectomy. It reduced her odds of developing breast cancer to less than 5% from an estimate of 87%. Her mother fought a decade-long battle against cancer and after Jolie tested positive for the BRCA1 gene--a faulty gene that greatly increases one's chances of developing breast or ovarian cancer--she took action.
I'm awed by the beautiful honesty that Jolie uses to write this piece. (The full op-ed piece is here.) She writes of loss, love, commitment and being truthful to herself, her family and countless women who hopefully will find a touchstone in her openness.
I don't make much of an effort to hide the girl-crush I have on Angelina Jolie. I can't get enough of her films. I analyze ads she appears in for embarrassing amounts of time. I value and respect her humanitarian work. Now this laying bare of her person...I can't even begin to put words to how it impacts me. Could I be that strong? Would I put myself through that? If I did, could I share it so openly?
It gives us so much to think about and to talk about. It opens a dialogue and creates opportunity to be supportive of one another rather than defaulting to tearing one another down. It may not always be about breast cancer or even cancer in general, but there's always something going on with people. It's up to all of us to find out what, to be supportive, to do what we can to bring out the best in each other.
(Gets down and puts away soapbox.)
Now to lighten up the mood--with a light refreshing review of a light refreshing beer. It's the Freigeist
Gose, which is brewed by Gasthaus Brauerei Braustelle. That just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? With a name like that, yes, it is indeed brewed in Germany!
It pours a hazy and dark shade of yellow with a thin white head. It smells like lemons and tastes like honey and lemons. There's an earthy aftertaste with undertones of orange. I also noted a mild salinity and some tea flavors. It drinks with a full but not overwhelming body--I'd even call it sessionable.
Beer stats
Style: Gose
ABV: 5.2%
IBUs: Unknown
Rating: Great
Previously reviewed from Gasthaus Brauerei Braustelle
I'm inadvertently celebrating a Two fer Tuesday Three for Threesday...I mean Tuesday. Sadly the beer beers I had planned to review turned out to be too directly related to the Grimbergen Pale Ale -- and Leipziger Gose that I reviewed a mere 11 beers ago and months ago. Rats, I say! Rats!
The beer originally planned for today was the Mort Subite Kriek Lambic. This was one of the beverages enjoyed at SourFest at Devil's Den on Saturday. While decidedly not sour, this lambic was sweet and tart. Depending on who you asked at our table, the tartness varied greatly. Also interesting is that the fact that I tasted more strawberry in the flavor than cherry. It poured a pretty rosy brown color with a barely pink but sticky head. It was tasty but I can't imagine drinking more than one.
The Mort Subite Kriek was followed by the Bayerischer Bahnhof Leipziger -- a Baltic porter with Brettanomyces. Of the porters, Baltic porters are my favorite. I love beers with Brettanomyces. The description of this one sounded oddly like Jolly Pumpkin's Madrugada Obscura. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
It's brewed in Germany at Gasthaus & Gosebrauerei Bayerischer Bahnhof. It appeared to be a very dark brown, almost black in the glass with a thick craggy head. It smelled like dark fruit. No earthy funk in the nose. The flavor was roasted and slightly smoky. At first the tartness wasn't there for me but as it sat I noticed more tartness coming out along with some strong hops.
Pardon the profanity laced interruption. MOTHERFUCKER. I ALREADY DRANK THIS GODDAMNED BREWERY IN FEBRUARY. How does my beer addled brain not pick up on any recollection of that bizarre, impossible to pronounce name??? I EVEN MADE FUN OF IT BACK IN FEBRUARY. SHIT. Damn. Poop. Hell.
I may actually cry.
Seriously.
Seriously this is the last review I'm writing tonight. If I find out that I already reviewed Fordham Brewing, you will never know. NEVER. Fordham is brewed in Dover, Delaware but claims heritage dating to 1703 in Annapolis, Maryland. It appears that the brewery was founded way back in 1703, operated for years and was shuttered for a number of years until an enterprising group of brewers reopened it in 1995. The Helles Lager poured a golden straw color with no head. It had medium carbonation. It smelled of sweet caramel malt and grains. The taste is very malt dominant but clean and crisp. It has a nice hopped finish with a taste of biscuits every now and again. It's quite easy to drink.
You get short and sweet tonight, folks. I just walked in the door at 9pm and dinner is my number one priority. It is followed closely by passing out wherever I land post-dinner. And that would be from exhaustion and not a bender.
Gose is an old German style beer from Leipzig. It’s an unfiltered wheat beer made with 50-60% malted wheat. That creates a cloudy yellow color and provides a refreshing crispness and twang. This particular one is brewed with coriander and salt. Interestingly this is my second beer this month brewed with salt. Evidence here.
Sorry about the craptastic cell phone photo. All I had was Gary’s phone to snap a photo of this one. It poured golden and slightly cloudy per the description. It was also very bubbly, which I think aided in the refreshing quality of this beer. It smelled strongly of malt and bread. There were herbal notes but I couldn’t say for certain that I smelled coriander. (I know it's in my kitchen cabinet, but I'm too lazy to get up and sniff it for confirmation.) There was definitely something interesting in the scent. The salt wasn’t noticeable at all. It finishes very dry. At 4.6% ABV, I’d love to spend an afternoon with more than one of these.
