Wild Beer Co: Tom Yum Gose (England: Gose: 4% ABV)
Visual: Reddened to amber. Thin off white dash for a head.
Nose: Ginger. Salted bread. Touch of sulfur.
Body: Dry. Ginger and paprika. Sour dough. Unleavened bread. Warming. Sharp lime behind. Fizzes heavily in the mouth.
Finish: Paprika and pepper. Salt water. Warming. Carrots. Light lime.
Conclusion: Gose experimentation time again. When I say experimentation, well, this is one hell of an experiment. Unfortunately it seems the hypothesis being tested is “Will I enjoy this” and the result is “not overly, no”.
These tests were rigorously conducted. I plucked eyeballs from two people before starting, so it is a double blind test. That is how it works. Science that is. So my findings cannot be disputed. That is also how science works. Wikipedia will agree with me as soon as I get around to editing it.
Anyway, there is a very heavy ginger flavor to this, and accompany spices, and they really dominate the game. I’m sure that there may be more going on in this beer, possible even a lot – I mean the list of ingredients is impressive – but as your mouth recovers from the warmth all you really get is salted water with squeezed lime. So, overall, salted water filled with chilli power and a single squeezed lime then. Not really something I would recommend having as a drink. I’ve not had the soup it is inspired by so I can’t speak for accuracy, but I hope it has something to give it a bit more body, as that is what this feels like it needs, a bit more in the middle for the other elements to add the heat to.
Very oddly this beer feels fizzy, not initially, but held in the mouth I could hear it fizzing against my teeth vigorously. Again interesting, but not really what suited the beer.
Now, I will admit I have been umming and ahhing about the gose style overall in my recent experiments with it, but they all encouraged me to try more – this didn’t. then again this is really not standard for a gose best I can tell.
I’m not taken by it I am afraid – it really feels like spice dumped into a beer not ready to handle it. A rare swing and miss from Wild beer Company.
Background: Gose hunt 2015 continues! Oddly, apparently a USA brewery called Tomoka makes a beer with exactly the same name. Even for the odd style that is the salted sour wheat ale thing that is gose, this is double odd. Made with chilli, galangal, lemongrass, coriander, kaffir lime and lime zest – this is an attempt to make a beer like an old soup recipe. Craft beer, ya have to love it. Drunk while listening to Against Me!, who I may never get bored of.
