Beer Styles

What is a Gose? A pale, lightly sour beer with a pinch of salt and coriander, brewed with wheat and barley. It originally comes from Goslar, but here in the Saale country it became the tavern beer of Halle and Leipzig during the 19th century. It counts as a so-called special beer, since salt and coriander deviate from the Reinheitsgebot, the German Purity Law.

What does it taste like? First fresh and lemony, then a hint of salt, and finally a light whiff of coriander. At 4.2 to 4.8 percent alcohol it's light, and with at most 12 IBU it's barely bitter. It's reminiscent of salted lemonade, yet it's an entirely distinct drink in its own right. The original gravity, the sugar content of the wort before fermentation, falls between 9 and 13.8 degrees Plato under the style guidelines. The Gose of Döllnitz near Halle began with Ledermann in 1824, while in Magdeburg it was bottom-fermented lager that became famous instead.

How does Gose differ from Berliner Weisse? Both are sour, but Berliner Weisse is milder, lower in alcohol, and contains neither salt nor coriander. Gose is spicier and more rounded, and usually stronger too.

Pils is the everyday style. It's bottom-fermented, pale, and markedly more bitter, with 22 to 40 IBU. The difference from Gose is substantial: Pils lives on hops and freshness, Gose on the interplay of acidity and salt. Pils from this region follows the same standards as everywhere else in the country; there's no documented regional style of its own.