Uptown Brewing Company “Stripped Down Gose”

Style: Gose
ABV: 5.8%

Nick’s Take

Today, I’m doing a solo review while Joe and Lauren are out visiting a bunch of cool breweries in Portland, OR. I would say they’re on vacation, but the grind never stops – they’re working hard to explore as many breweries and taste as many craft beers as possible. It’s a daunting task and I’m thankful that they volunteered to take it on themselves so I wouldn’t have to.

All kidding and envy aside, I’ve done my own exploring this week – just a little closer to home. In fact, right here in Greenville, NC. Uptown Brewing Company recently released a new gose that I knew I had to try. Their “Stripped Down Gose” promises a traditional and no-nonsense profile and I was curious to see how it turned out. When I got my beer, served in their branded pint glass, the first thing I noticed was the head, or lack thereof. There were only a few stray bubbles that clung to the side of the glass, but it was otherwise very placid-looking. The color of the beer was a pale and hazy gold that almost had a nice sheen from the overhead lights.

I really enjoyed the subdued, tart aromas I got from “Stripped Down Gose.” The presence of lemon was undeniable, but almost in a Country Time Lemonade kind of way. The sour aromas were met with a nice bit of malt character that was akin to wheat. Overall, not a sharp tinge of acidity or tartness, which I found really appealing and I expected to find a very smooth-sipping sour beer.

The bright, yet mild carbonation was super refreshing. It also was pretty light-bodied and didn’t punch you in the mouth with lemon acidity/make me pucker. It was a little drying on the finish, but as I mentioned, super refreshing and the drying component only accelerated my consumption of this gose.

As Uptown promised, “Stripped Down Gose” is really stripped down of all the add-ins you might find in their (and other breweries’) sours. Of course we all love to see goses get some berries, herbs, lactose, etc. added in for some unique and fun sour brews, but there is something to be said about enjoying a beer that sticks to the basics. I loved the level of lemon tartness in this brew, and it had the right amount of sweetness to balance it. The wheat malt aroma I noted before seemed to make an appearance in retronasal olfaction, and it added to the refreshing aspect of this gose.

Even though summer is coming to a close, I see this gose going so well with a hot summer afternoon at the beach, lake, pool, cookout, you name it. Very refreshing, bright, and easy to drink. For a simpler gose recipe, Uptown did a nice job of producing a beer that still flavorful while maintaining a degree of lightness. I recommend this new release, so go check them out soon while the kegs last! They may even have a couple other releases joining their tap menu. Cheers!