Pfriem Family Brewers has consistently been my favorite all-around local brewery in Oregon. Firstly, their Belgian-styles have been the most consistently true to style of any brewery making Belgian influenced beers. For a long time, since their founding in 2012, Pfriem’s offerings were only available in draft. Finally, 2015 saw the launch of their beers in bottles. Keeping consistent with the quality focus of the brewery, the bottles would be properly bottle conditioned. This was the final piece in the authentic puzzle. Pfriem’s Belgian beers with proper conditioning would be as good as anything coming out of Belgium, and so far, they have been!
Pfriem Gose (pronounced go-suh) is the newest offering the brewer’s “Select” line of beers, and the first review to appear on this site. They currently have 3 tiers of beer: Classic, Select, & Barrel-Aged. The Select line features a sharp gold label and a cork and cage finish. While the brewery is primarily known for their Belgian-style ales and their well-balanced IPAs, they also brew a lot of German-style beers that are quite true to style.
Gose, if you’re not familiar with this trendy style in the craft beer world, is an old German style that originated in the Leipzig area of Germany in the town of Goslar where the Gose river flows. Goslar is famous for its mineral rich waters that gave the initial style its characteristic salty taste. As it’s known today, Gose is a ale yeast fermented wheat beer brewed with the addition of coriander and salt. It also sees some lactic fermentation giving the beer a refreshing acidic twang. This has made the beer a popular style with American craft beer drinkers and brewers. A relatively simple kettle souring makes this an attractive style to brew.
Appearance: Pale gold, light haze, white head, ok retention.
Aroma: Light funk, lemon, a little dirty, sea salt, lemon rind.
Taste: Lemon biscuits, light salt, cracker, lemon meringue.
Overall Impression: Pfriem Gose is spritzy, velvety, and refreshing. It’s extremely balanced with a medium/long finish. This might be one of the most complex and balanced goses I’ve tried. While a lot of the craft interpretations of the style tend to accentuate the certain aspects of the style, such as the salt or acidity; Pfriem’s Gose takes the unique elements of the style and blends them into a fully realized and truly authentic German-Style Gose that would be at home next to the true classics of the style.
Availability: For a limited time in the Pacific Northwest.
4.5% ABV
Disclosure: I work for the company that distributes Pfriem in Oregon, although I don’t manage or work with their portfolio directly.
