Style Details

Name
Gose
Cate­go­ry
His­to­ri­cal Beer
BJCP Style Code
27 A1
Appearance
Unfil­te­red, with a mode­ra­te to full haze. Mode­ra­te to tall sized white head with tight bubbles and good reten­ti­on. Effer­ve­s­cent. Medi­um yel­low color.
Aro­ma
Light to modera­te­ly frui­ty aro­ma of pome fruit. Light sourness, slight­ly sharp. Noti­ceable cori­an­der, which can have an aro­ma­tic lem­o­ny qua­li­ty, and an inten­si­ty up to mode­ra­te. Light brea­dy, doug­hy, yeasty cha­rac­ter like uncoo­ked sourdough bread. The aci­di­ty and cori­an­der can give a bright, lively impres­si­on. The salt may be per­cei­ved as a very light, clean sea bree­ze cha­rac­ter or just a gene­ral fresh­ness, if noti­ceable at all.
Fla­vour
Mode­ra­te to res­trai­ned but noti­ceable sourness, like a squeeze of lemon in iced tea. Mode­ra­te bready/doughy malt fla­vor. Light to mode­ra­te frui­ty cha­rac­ter of pome fruit, stone fruit, or lemons. Light to mode­ra­te salt cha­rac­ter, up to the thres­hold of tas­te; the salt should be noti­ceable (par­ti­cu­lar­ly in the initi­al tas­te) but not tas­te overt­ly sal­ty. Low bit­ter­ness, no hop fla­vor. Dry, ful­ly-atte­nu­a­ted finish, with aci­di­ty not hops balan­cing the malt. Aci­di­ty can be more noti­ceable in the finish, and enhan­ce the refres­hing qua­li­ty of the beer. The aci­di­ty should be balan­ced, not for­ward (alt­hough his­to­ri­cal ver­si­ons could be very sour).
Mouth­feel
High to very high car­bo­na­ti­on, effer­ve­s­cent. Medi­um-light to medi­um-full body. Salt may give a slight­ly tingly, mou­thwa­te­ring qua­li­ty, if per­cei­ved at all. The yeast and wheat can give it a litt­le body, but it shouldn’t have a hea­vy feel.
Over­all Impression
A high­ly-car­bo­na­ted, tart and frui­ty wheat ale with a res­trai­ned cori­an­der and salt cha­rac­ter and low bit­ter­ness. Very refres­hing, with bright fla­vors and high attenuation.
Typi­cal Ingredients
Pils­ner and wheat malt, res­trai­ned use of salt and cori­an­der seed, lac­to­ba­cil­lus. The cori­an­der should have a fresh, citru­sy (lemon or bit­ter oran­ge), bright note, and not be vege­tal, cele­ry-like, or ham-like. The salt should have a sea salt or fresh salt cha­rac­ter, not a metal­lic, iod­i­ne note.
Histo­ry
Minor style asso­cia­ted with Leip­zig but ori­gi­na­ting in the Midd­le Ages in the town of Gos­lar on the Gose River. Docu­men­ted to have been in Leip­zig by 1740. Leip­zig was said to have 80 Gose hou­ses in 1900. Pro­duc­tion decli­ned signi­fi­cant­ly after WWII, and cea­sed enti­re­ly in 1966. Modern pro­duc­tion was revi­ved in the 1980s, but the beer is not wide­ly available. 
Comm­ents
Ser­ved in tra­di­tio­nal cylind­ri­cal glas­ses. His­to­ri­cal ver­si­ons may have been more sour than modern examp­les due to spon­ta­neous fer­men­ta­ti­on, and may be blen­ded with syrups as is done with Ber­li­ner Weis­se, or Küm­mel, a liqueur fla­vor­ed with cara­way, cumin, and fen­nel. Modern examp­les are ino­cu­la­ted with lac­to­ba­cil­lus, and are more balan­ced and gene­ral­ly don’t need sweetening. Pro­no­un­ced GOH-zeh.
Com­mer­cial Examples
Ander­son Val­ley Gose, Baye­risch Bahn­hof Leip­zi­ger Gose, Döll­nit­zer Rit­ter­guts Gose
Ori­gi­nal Gravity
1.036 - 1.056 SG
Final Gra­vi­ty
1.006 - 1.010 SG
Color
3 - 4 SRM
Alco­hol
4.0 - 4.0 %vol
Bit­ter­ness
5 - 12 IBU