Put away your tulip glasses and mustaches, because craft beer is dead.
At least that’s what Thrillist writer Joe Keohane would have us believe. In a recently posted article, he suggests that the resurgence of Gose—an ancient German ale—signals that the craft beer revolution that began in the ’80s is out of ideas.
Gose is quirky, to be sure. It’s sour, salty and doesn’t get you sloshed very quickly. But like it or not, it’s a little soon to be endowing it with apocalyptic powers.
“Gose is my favorite style,” says Cody Martin, brewer and founder of Martin House Brewing in Fort Worth, Texas. “Sours are bringing in a whole new crew of beer drinkers, introducing people to flavors they didn’t associate with beer.”
Martin’s Gose, Salty Lady, was one of the brewery’s most popular seasonals last year and will be back this summer.
Bailie Duncan of Real Ale Brewing in Blanco, Texas, loves the reincarnation of historic styles, and its 18th Anniversary Gose offers a compelling argument for making what’s old new again. “I think it helps fuel curiosity amongst the craft beer community to try new styles and educate themselves on the history of beer,” Duncan says.
Like any craft worth its salt, Gose is not going to please everyone. But thanks to the passionate, artisan brewers who are experimenting like crazy, there’s no shortage of flavors out there—from traditional lagers to Beard Beer—that you just can’t ignore. Craft beer keeps us on our toes, and that’s one of the things we love about it.
What do you think about Gose? Is it really the death of the craft beer industry?
