Good Beer Hunting

Sightlines — Is Gose the Next Variant Style? — Westbrook to Debut Key Lime Gose in Cans

THE GIST
South Carolina’s Westbrook Brewing Co. recently released a key lime pie version of its popular Gose. The seasonal release hit stores and bars in late July, both on draft and in 12 oz. cans.

WHY IT MATTERS
Five years ago, every brewery was producing a wheat beer for a transitional market. Now even those seeking a “gateway” beer are being a little more adventurous, and somehow a once-forgotten German sour wheat beer, spiced with coriander and seasoned with salt, is filling that gap impressively. 

Perhaps the biggest evidence that this bygone style had hit the big time was when Sierra Nevada started producing a year-round Gose called Otra Vez. Westbrook was dead-on trend when it released its Gose in 2012 with a more extreme flavor profile than most. It’s been disappearing off liquor store shelves faster than other brewers can think of a pun with which to name their own riff on the style ever since. 

And now, as a nod to a style that's an expanding trend as opposed to a flash in the pan, Westbrook drops this key lime variant. Much like we see the all-fruit-everything trend of IPAs still playing out, expect this seasonal release to be as popular—if not more—than its predecessor, as it combines fruit and sour trends in a refreshing and accessible profile. And it's just ripe for puns.

— Matthew Curtis


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WESTBROOK SHIPS KEY LIME PIE GOSE – Via Tenemu