Bianca - Mango (6%)

33cl bottle. Hazy pale yellow with a thin white head. Notes of passion fruit, mango, citrus hops, lemon juice, unripe pineapple. Moderate tartness, salty, hop bitter and just a bit of honey. Great balance, light and refreshing.

One of Omnipollo’s variations on the Gose theme, with rock salt and the exotic addition of mango puree. Moussy, off-white, lightly lacing head breaking in the middle but otherwise more or less retaining, over an initially very lightly hazy, warm and pure golden coloured beer with thin but fierce strings of bubbles rising up here and there, a pretty sight, but evidently turning a misty ochre with yeast sediment added. Unusual but very refined, fascinating aroma of yoghurt, sweet mango chutney, cheddar, Sauerkraut, lemon pickle, passion fruit, goat cheese, lime juice, leavened bread. Crisp, sour onset with ’bright’ sharpish fruit acidity (lemon, unripe green plum, sour berries) through which some of the mango sweetness pierces in a subtle way, but softening the whole a bit; carbonation is spritzy and minerally, but not too sharp. After this sourness with a trace of ’exotic’ mango sweetness woven through, the rock salt comes in, resulting in a somewhat Sauerkraut-like flavor as is often the case in Goses; underneath a soft bready malt and wheat base provides a mellow, perfectly fit basic structure for this fascinating follow-up of flavors. The lemony acidity continues till all the way at the back and lends a citric flavor to the finish; there is also a soft dairy-like, somewhat yoghurty aspect, but less lactic character than in most other Goses I tasted so far. All the way at the root of the tongue, a brief, earthy hop bitterness can be felt, helping the lemon sourness to dry the ending while a thin trace of the mango sweetness is left behind in the middle of it. Gose is a style which keeps fascinating me: ancient, then extinct, then (near the end of the 20th century) resurrected in the traditional way, and now elaborated upon by creative craft brewers. This one surely stretches the classic properties of the style, but does so in a very noble, refined way, atypical as it may be. A real gem of pure and delicate beauty, I highly recommend this to anyone who can enjoy sour beer styles.

Bottle: very light, clear, bubbly gold with a thin white head. Aroma is mango, orange, grain......nice.... Taste is tart mango, orange, salt. Fabulous scent.... great increasing saltiness.... I really enjoyed this one.