Omnipollo: Bianca – Blueberry Maple Pancake Lassi Gose (Sweden: Gose: 6% ABV)
Visual: Oozes out of the can on opening necessitating a quick(ish) pour. Black cherry red with a brighter deep black cherry red head.
Nose: Thick American style pancakes. Blueberry muffins. Strawberry. Creamy. Red berries. Pips.
Body: Sweet blueberry and black cherry. Lightly tart red grape backing. Thick and creamy. Sweet red grapes. Fresh apples. Toffee. Maple syrup.
Finish: Red grape juice. Thick pancakes. Slight dry wood. Light acrid dryness. Fresh berries. Slight salt water. Charring. Maple. Syrup. Tannins and dry teabags.
Conclusion: Whelp, this does what it says on the tin. Like, seriously spot on. But! Before we get into that, this thing is a tad energetic. When I popped open the can it instantly oozed out thickly, filling the rim and pouring over the lid over the can. It wasn’t quick or explosive, and I didn’t lose much, but be aware. It can be excitable.
Anyway, even within the loose and varied style guidelines that make up the gose, this is the least gose like gose that I have ever encountered. I don’t doubt that there is something recognisable as a gose used as the base – but damn if it is not overwhelmed by the many and varied ingredients added.
It is thick and sturdy, creamy but with thick American pancakes to muffins sweet bready feel that has been just utterly packed with tons of berries. The berries are not limited to the blueberries of the name, there are blueberries, red-berries, red grapes, black cherry and grape juice. It is fruity as heck, lightly tart in some places but generally just sweet fruit juice, enlivened by maple syrup sweetness.
The most gose like element is also the weakest element – the finish. It starts out similar to the body, but gains a welcome, slightly salty gose style pretty quickly. Unfortunately this builds and builds into a very dry, slightly charred, astringent and then finally acrid note over time. The beer definitely needs a less sweet note to underline the experience so it doesn’t get sickly – but the finish feels like it went too far in that direction.
It is very different, very fun and very sweet. Rough at the end, but for the rest of the beer it is super intense in selling its gimmick. Now, with all that said, it is bloody expensive, which means it is not one I can recommend lightly – you may want to think twice before jumping in, but while not perfect it is a hell of an experience.
Background: We all know why I bought this right? The long list of Blueberry Maple etc etc. It sounded weird enough I had to give it a try, even though it was more than a tad pricey. From a quick google it seems there are a lot of beers in the Bianca series. Wonder if there is one of just the base gose, as that would be interesting to see. Any which way, this was grabbed from Independent Spirit and drunk while listening to Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes – Blossom. Still utterly epic, utterly huge tunes.
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