Sea Buckthorn Gose

Gose 4.7%
Bottle conditioned, 275 ml 'London half pint' and 375 ml champagne bottles.
Release date: to be announced.

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I have been researching and exploring the subject of gose (pronounced 'gose-uh'), the revived German sour, salty style of top fermented witbeer. To me it seems a natural accompaniment to salty seafoods and also a light, refreshing, isotonic drink in its own right, so ideal as a seaside beer.

There are numerous ways of producing a sour beer: (a) spontaneous fermentation from wild yeasts (lambic style), (b) creating a sour mash that utilises the naturally occuring Lactobacillus in the grain, (c) primary fermentation of the wort with a cocktail of souring bugs or (d) introduce wild bugs in secondary, either (d.i) from a culture, (d.ii) from storage in an old wooden barrel or (d.iii) from the skins of fruit.

The main portion of the batch (Stewkey Gose) brewed on 11 March 2014 is still in secondary as I write, hopefully souring slowly from the Lactobacillus that was in the Berliner Weisse yeast blend it was fermented with (c. above). But this sub-batch of around 45 litres has been dosed with the orange berries of Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) that grows freely on the East Cliffs of Cromer. The thinking is to bring in the citric flavours of the juice from the berries to contribute to the beer but also for the wild yeasts and bacteria on the skins to quicken the souring of the beer (d.iii above). A kilo and a half of fruit went into the kilderkin with 45 litres of beer on 23 March. I taste it every so often and it is coming along slowly.

Latest news (15.5.2014): the beer is bottled and developing. Just about 100 x 275 ml bottles and 48 x 375 ml champagne bottles have been produced. The acidity is developing but it could be many weeks before it is ready to come to market.

Cheers

Martin Warren, The Poppyland Brewer