Marionberry Hibiscus Gose - Widmer Brothers Brewing Company

UCLABrewN84

California

3.38/5  rDev 0%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Bottled on 5/8/12.

Pours a murky, turbid raspberry color with a 1/2 inch foamy light red head that settles to an oily film on top of the beer. Small dots of lace slowly drip into the remaining beer on the drink down. Smell is somewhat tart and sour with some sour berry and hibiscus aromas. Interestingly enough, the smells actually seem to disappear as the beer warms. Taste is slightly tart with sour berry and hibiscus flavors up front followed by grain and spice flavors on the finish. This beer has a pretty good level of carbonation with a somewhat crisp and slightly acidic mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer that I can see being a good introduction to sours for beginners but to me it's not worth revisiting.

Serving type: bottle

06-23-2012 02:26:12 | More by UCLABrewN84

metter98

New York

3.6/5  rDev +6.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

A: The beer is hazy light garnet in color and has a light to moderate amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a finger and a half high pink head that gradually died down but left a thin layer of bubbles on the surface and a collar around the edge of the glass.
S: There are light aromas of marionberries (which smell like blackberries) in the nose.
T: Like the smell, the taste has some tart flavors of marionberries along with some hints of hibiscus and salt.
M: It feels light-bodied and a little watery on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: I found this to be a very interesting beer for the style and something that is very easy to drink. The addition of marionberries and hibiscus really helps make the beer easy to drink, akin to putting fruit syrup in a Berliner Weissbier.

Serving type: bottle

09-28-2012 00:47:31 | More by metter98

Halcyondays

California

3.15/5  rDev -6.8%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

12 oz. bottle,

A: Pours a berry purple red with a fizzy short head. Poor retention, no lace. Interesting colour.

S: Lots of berry fruit (marionberry I'm assuming) with hints of winter spice.

T: Sweet berry fruit, some light yeasty character, hint of salt, fairly one-dimensional.

M: Light-bodied, fizzy, some biting carbonation. Fleeting.

O: A solid fruit beer. Really it's just the nice berry flavour, blind I'd never know this was a gose, it doesn't offer much in the way of style.

Serving type: bottle

08-20-2012 03:20:23 | More by Halcyondays

Jason

Massachusetts

3.45/5  rDev +2.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

12oz brown bottle with a bottled on date.

LOOK: Muddled rose colored brew, bubbly faintly pink head

SMELL: Crackers, flour, coriander, floral, fruity, slightly herbal

TASTE: Tart, slick, medium bodied, fresh wild berries, salt, coriander, tart hibiscus, slight alcoholic warmth, modest hopping, a bit chewy, biscuity, nutty yeast, floral semi-dry finish

You have to hand it to them for coming up with a brew like this, old world style meets extreme brewing. I think the level of tartness works here though it would have come across better if the beer was dryer.

Serving type: bottle

09-15-2012 02:06:00 | More by Jason

Zorro

California

3.05/5  rDev -9.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Cloudy red colored beer with a small pink colored head.

Smells sour with a strong berry scent. Not sure what a Marionberry smells like but there is some melon scent to this too.

Starts out sour tastes more like wine than beer. Sour berries with Hibiscus flower. No real hop flavor, just a fruit wine flavor.

Mouthfeel is OK.

Overall I can think of 100 fruit beers better than this one. If I want a winey beer DFH Red &White is better not to mention the Raspberry rocket fuel called Fort. No repeat sale on this one.

Serving type: bottle

08-14-2012 06:01:16 | More by Zorro

JohnGalt1

Idaho

3.6/5  rDev +6.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Had a few of these now with Inflatablechair and SAS... Still not convinced this should be in the "Gose" category.

Pours with a short lasting pinkish head.... no real lacing or cap... the brew is glowing red.

Nose shows bunches of berries and floral notes.. good coriander.

Tart berry... hibiscus tea notes ... coriander and good pale maltiness.. I don't know if I get "salt" other than maybe it helps push other flavors forward...

Interesting brew given the price$$... I will definitely buy again and again until it is gone...

Is it a traditional "gose", NO. But still it is damn fun.

3.5/3.5/3.5/3.5/4

Serving type: bottle

05-24-2012 06:36:09 | More by JohnGalt1

mactrail

California

3.93/5  rDev +16.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Beautiful rosy color in the Leffe chalice. Excellent sudsy mouthfeel with lots of champagne bubbles. Interesting aroma of red guavas. Nice lacing in the glass.

Very restrained, even elegant. The other two Goses I've tasted have been so acidic they were virtually undrinkable. The acidity here is more like a Belgian fruity beer. Barely a wild taste, and not much yeast. A cousin to Morte Subite who went to finishing school. Just a little wheaty taste, a scratchy bitter twang, and a tartness of plum skins. Nice berry flavor and a touch of herb tea.

I'm totally charmed by this stuff. If it's not anything like the ancient style, it's what I like about the World Beer movement. Take inspiration and make it drinkable. They could make another version without the training wheels, though. Another of the user-friendly oddball beers from Widmer.

Serving type: bottle

06-12-2012 03:29:09 | More by mactrail

OWSLEY069

Pennsylvania

3.48/5  rDev +3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Pours a hazy deep pink to reddish color with a small off white head. In the aroma, coriander, and a fruity to tart berries. In the taste, starts dry to a cranberry juice cocktail flavor to dry end. A spice like bite and a medium to lighter bodied mouthfeel, with a small dry fruitiness to clean aftertaste. Note really sure what marionberry should taste like, but quite cranberry like.

Serving type: bottle

01-12-2013 14:55:30 | More by OWSLEY069

avalon07

South Carolina

3.58/5  rDev +5.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

A: Poured from a bottle to a cylinder glass. Had a reddish color and a cloudy consistency. There was an inch and a half of creamy head that quickly dissipated. Not much lacing.

S: An odd, but somewhat underplayed aroma of fruit, spices, and malt.

T: Tasted of fruit (presumably the marionberries), spices (coriander), malt, and the saltiness common in goses. Kind of an odd flavor here: At first it's like a fruit beer, then in the finish it's like a gose. Not bad, but it doesn't mesh perfectly.

M: A good amount of carbonation with a smooth (and salty) finish. Medium-bodied.

O: Basically an experimental beer that's kind of hit and miss. Not undrinkable, but there are better examples of a gose out there.

Serving type: bottle

07-13-2012 13:06:45 | More by avalon07

beertunes

Washington

3.28/5  rDev -3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Arrgh! Yet ANOTHER hated 22. Poured into 10oz goblet. Poured an opaque reddish-amber (with the emphasis on RED) color with just under a half-inch of white head (that had a bit of a reddish tint as well) that quickly dissipated and left no lacing.

There was some of the Marrionberry in the aroma, but not an overpowering amount, along with an underlying sweetness and a mild tartness. On the tongue the berries were subtle (which, honestly, I was a bit disappointed in. I love marrionberries!), a subdued spiciness, that mild tartness, and, maybe, just a hint of the salt that's expected of the style.

The body was very good, light, but still substantial, but not heavy or cloying. The beer had good carbonation that carried the flavors across the tongue easily. Drinkability was very good, this was a rare case where if I had another 22, I would have opened it immediately (which goes to show my point, if brewers would put these brews into sixers instead of 22s, I could have had 3-4 and still had some left over). Overall, in my limited experience with the Gose style, this wasn't really a typical example, but was still quite enjoyable. No aspect of this beer dominated, but the beer was very well combined. I enjoyed this beer much more than the number shows. It's a must try if you see it. I'll be grabbing another bottle or two.

Serving type: bottle

06-20-2012 19:07:18 | More by beertunes

smakawhat

Maryland

3.18/5  rDev -5.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Poured from the bottle into a wheat ale glass.

A ruby grapefruit orange comes out and hits the body with some mix of red and tomato and grapefruit colors, cloudy. Some nice rising carbonation but that pink head is throwing me which settles nicely into a good puck and collar.

Nose is fairly wet and fruity, sweet smelling, as if they dunked syrup into this per style. Not much salinity, but reminds me of red fruits such as cherry although toned down. Not much malt chewy wheat sense.

Tastes is interesting, but lacking the qualities of a Gose. This tastes like drinking grapefruit juice with it's classic bitterness and not from hop. Salinity isn't really anywhere to be found and it doesn't even seem that dry. At 5.5 abv the brew feels heavy for the style but without a dense wheat body to go with it. Carbonation doesn't come off as crisp or lively.

Overall it's an ok drinking brew but not what I am in the mood for. This isn't my thing, and this is not what I want when I want a gose.

Serving type: bottle

06-19-2012 23:07:28 | More by smakawhat

flagmantho

Washington

3.6/5  rDev +6.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Poured from 12oz bottle into a pint glass. I'm excited to see a relatively locally made craft gose!

Appearance: amber-pink hue with a finger of fizzy light-pink foam which dissipates rapidly. I admit this is not great, but I feel like a hibiscus beer should be mega red like this. I like it.

Smell: light wheat and berry aroma which is a bit understated. There's a touch of banana in there which lends a tropical fruit feeling to the whole works. Not super gose-ey, but I like it.

Taste: nicely tart flavor with a good jolt of the berries and a little bit of wheat character. Salt is mild and appears on the backend. I kind of like it, but I feel like it needs to be more ... something. Tarter, saltier, fruitier, wheatier; perhaps just more of everything.

Mouthfeel: medium-light body with a big dose of carbonation. Froths up quickly in the mouth, but then dissipates into nothing. Refreshing and tingly, but not really creamy. Still, it suits this beer.

Overall: I love the bizarre experimentation that this beer represents. I think it has flaws, but it is refreshing and certainly drinkable. On a hot enough day, I'd have this again.

Serving type: bottle

07-26-2012 02:37:36 | More by flagmantho

ngeunit1

California

4/5  rDev +18.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A - Pours a cloudy orange-red with a thin finger of frothy reddish head. The head fades down fairly quickly leaving behind a little lace.

S - Aroma is a mix of wheat, tart and sweet berries, farmhouse smells, coriander, and a touch of lemon zest.

T - Starts off with a mix of sweet and tart berries with some wheat, grains, and coriander. Through the middle, some funky farmhouse flavors come through with some sourness and a bit of acidity. The finish is a mix of sweet berries, wheat, tartness and funkiness, acidity, and sourness.

M - Medium-light bodied with moderate carbonation. Feels smooth with a tart, sour, and sweet finish.

D - Very drinkable. Nice overall balance with some good berry flavor, tartness, and acidity.

Serving type: bottle

10-03-2012 04:15:22 | More by ngeunit1

dbrauneis

New Jersey

3.43/5  rDev +1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

A: Pours an opaque slightly murky ruby to rose red in color with some orange/copper highlights when held up to the light. The beer has a finger tall fizzy pink head (like soda) that quickly reduces to a medium sized patch of very thin film near the center of the of the glass and a thin ring at the edges if the glass. Minimal amounts of lacing are observed.

S: Overall the smell of this beer is pretty mild - there are notes of tartness and berries at first but it fades pretty quickly. Very light herbal notes.

T: The beer starts out with a light flavor of wheat and berries (tart, then lightly sweet) then there are herbal flavors. There is also a light flavor of salt and some hibiscus in the finish.

M: Light to medium bodied with moderate amounts of carbonation. Light amounts of acidic prickliness and light amounts of dryness in the finish.

O: Right off the bat, from the appearance, you can tell this beer contains both hibiscus and berries. There is a pleasant amount of tartness but overall this flavors in this beer are rather subtle. Easy to drink and enjoyable.

Serving type: bottle

09-27-2012 22:33:19 | More by dbrauneis

ehammond1

California

3.6/5  rDev +6.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Bottle (2012)

Thanks for the gift, Alucard4!

A dark pink and light purple in the glass with very small, almost no, head. This leaves the glass clean on its way down.

A sweet, sugary, and floral aroma. There's definite berry character and what I suppose is the hibiscus. A bit of a salt character as well. Enjoyable and appropriate, especially for the style.

The flavor too is sweet and floral with decent berry character and a definite saline character. Very easy drinking.

Medium bodied with low carbonation.

Enjoyable.

Serving type: bottle

11-16-2012 01:34:52 | More by ehammond1

Reidrover

Oregon

3.5/5  rDev +3.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

12 oz single from Roth’s Sunnyslope Market in S.Salem. $2.49 Poured into a goblet, rhubarb stalk red with a small off whte head that goes fast. Fruity berry aromas with some spice..nice really Ricj raspberry/marionberry flavour with a bitter slightly saltiness underneath,spice after taste. Very dry finish but a nice mouthfeel. Hard to judge this one other than i enjoyed, but one 12 oz serving would be enough at a time

Serving type: bottle

11-10-2012 17:26:29 | More by Reidrover

harrymel

Washington

3.23/5  rDev -4.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Been looking forward to this since they announced their intent to brew it. Bottled 07MAY12

From the label: Marionberry Hibiscus Gose: Ale brewed with coriander and with marionberries and hibiscus added.

Pours a lovely dark mauve with little clarity and a solid sheet of light, pretty pink foam. The beer is very good looking, I don't usually say that, but it's a looker! The hibiscus comes out up front in the nose followed by the marionberries with a slight tart character. Coriander is evident and shouldn't be here. Flavor is nice and cultured - good use of the salt here as it simply tames the sharpness the berries bring. Some grassy, woody flavors along with a continuation of the coriander burden. There is also a remaining strength of hibiscus. The body is fairly full and carb is restrained leaving a slightly dry finish.

Overall, I'd tone down the hibiscus, and let the berries shine a little more. The salinity is spot on, but there should also be a bit of tartness. Not the best attempt, but I'm glad to see a big name getting into the style!

Serving type: bottle

05-21-2012 15:12:10 | More by harrymel

HalfFull

California

3.15/5  rDev -6.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

22 oz. bottle into a large globe glass. Pours a hazed ruby with a half inch of pinkish tinted foam. Moderate retention but solid carbonation allowing for an easily maintained surface cap with a quick spin.

Aroma of wheat and a touch of yeast. Just a hint of berry and a slight tartness are integrated with the wheatiness.

Taste brings forth the berry and coriander up front, a touch of apparent salinity on the close and a lingering fruitiness after. No hop bite though a touch of hops is offered on the aroma, quite smooth and drinkable. Light in body, touch of salty tartness though not tart by any means. Interesting entree to the style though likely a bit of an outlier..

Serving type: bottle

06-27-2012 04:31:50 | More by HalfFull

aasher

Indiana

3.03/5  rDev -10.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

I've wanted to try this one for awhile. This Marionberry Gose pours a rose reddish pink in color with light carbonation that dies off quickly. The nose is light with some berry and floral characteristics but no typical Gose wheat or salt water. The flavors too, light berry and some hibiscus character. It is lightly tart, but its slight. If anything, there is more sweet berry than I anticipated. It is very light in body with little carbonation. It's approachable but nothing really impressive. This could be used as a good gateway to get girls into craft.

Serving type: bottle

10-06-2012 01:25:04 | More by aasher

KTCamm

New Jersey

3.25/5  rDev -3.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Served on tap at dunderbaks of tampa for a cut rate three dollar price tag. Served in a goblet.

Pours medium dark red, with some foam. Nose is a light fruitiness. Some cherry. Taste is an extremely faint cherry lead. Somewhat watery. There is an almost vegetable quality to the taste - earthy carrots buried in there. Minor carbonation in the mouthfeel.

Overall a decent beer but not remarkable.

Serving type: on-tap

12-02-2012 01:53:35 | More by KTCamm

bsp77

Minnesota

3.58/5  rDev +5.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Serving glass: Poured from bottle into Tulip.

Appearance: Fairly dark orangish red with thick whiteheadhat does not last.

Smell: Berries, wheat, salt and coriander.

Taste: Balanced wheat and berries at first, with some coriander and salt on the slightly tart finish. Overall, quite well balanced. Maybe too balanced, as it is almost too subtle and nothing really stands out.

Feel: Moderate carbonation, relatively light body. Dry, tart, salty finish.

Overall: Refreshing but a little too subdued. This would be a good beer to introduce more mainstream drinkers to the concept that some beers can be tart.

Serving type: bottle

09-01-2012 21:41:15 | More by bsp77

CHickman

New York

3.9/5  rDev +15.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours cloudy reddish pink, a rose champagne-like color with a foamy 1 finger light purple colored head that faded quickly leaving basically no lace, dissipating like all the bubbles in the head were popping at a super fast speed; a very different looking beer that was fun to watch settle.

Smells like flowers, Sweet Tart candy, grape soda, sweet malt, caramel, berries and light yeast; an odd nose that is funky, sweet and biscuity at the same time. The fruity sweetness is nice and soft, like blueberry or raspberry were added; must be the marionberry aroma.

Tastes very sweet like candy and berries up front, followed by yeast, biscuit, grains, flowers, brown sugar, tart citrus fruit and then some funk and berries. Hard to nail down any specific flavors, but somehow this works as a nice light, refreshing fruity beer. It's almost like a wine cooler but has just enough beer elements to make it a possible session brew.

Mouthfeel is very light and crisp, with light fizzy carbonation, a light airy body and a slightly tart finish that shows sour berry notes and fades on the clean side.

Overall it was good, and surprisingly enjoyable. It looked weird, smelled kind of off and tasted like a wine cooler, yet came together and worked. It's hard to pinpoint the reasons why it worked, but to me it did so I'd have this beer again. Not too familiar with marionberry, hibiscus, or the Gose style for that matter, but I was able to overlook the sweetness and enjoy this interesting beer.

Serving type: bottle

12-03-2012 03:33:11 | More by CHickman

shand

Florida

4.23/5  rDev +25.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Poured from a 12oz bottle into a Sam Adams perfect pint!

Hey, it's pink! Even the head is pink! Very hazy, and the head doesn't last for long at all. The color is really a stunner though. The aroma is fruity and slightly sour, with some wheat and coriander. The taste is very nice, it's got an excellent tart, realistic fruitiness over a wheat base. I've never had marionberries, but they probably taste good! There's a nice floral aftertaste as well that mingles very nicely with the wheat. I also taste a bit of the saltiness on the finish. It's not overpowering, and if you're not looking for it, you won't notice it. The mouthfeel is light and highly carbonated, and the drinkability is great.

Overall, this is just a really fun and different beer, and one of the better fruit beers I've had in quite some time. And it's in four-packs for relatively cheap too!

Serving type: bottle

06-17-2012 03:33:47 | More by shand

Docer

Washington

3.05/5  rDev -9.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Appearance: (3.5)

- Cloudy ruby red brew. Reminds me of their old Widberry brew from back in the day. Not much head to speak of but a quickly fizzling white fluff that leaves a thin spotty island behind, and a small ring resting in the glass.

Smell: (2.5)

- The primary aroma is wheat. Wheat malt is heavy, bready, and grainy. Kind of salty as stated too. Sitting far in the background are some currants and herbal aromas, but this doesn't smell much like many of the Goses' I've had.

Taste: (3.5)

- There are some nice tart flavors with this brew. At least in flavor, this beer inches towards a nice gose. Tart and funky wheat malts, slightly salty, and a subtle herbal and grassy flare to compliment the funk. Very light currants and blackberry compliment the salts and wheat.

Mouth Feel: (3.0)

- This is a bubbly and well carbonated brew. I would think it shouldn't be as carbonated, but a little more light in the bubbly department, and heavier in the body. This beer kind of 'Gose' the other way. It's a touch thin, and bubbly. It does have an herbal drying character to it, as well as a parching salty touch.

Overall: (2.5)

- Kind of a bland attempt at a Gose. It's got wheat, brewing salts, and a touch of funk, but it isn't quite there. Certainly a style of beer that shouldn't be done in large batches and with any brewers house yeast or fermentation style. This is strictly a style all in its own, and should be brewed as such. It wasn't tart enough for me, funky enough, nor did it have the fruit I was expecting after seeing its color. Want a good Gose? Hit up Upright or Breakside. Or better yet, grab a nice Berliner Weisse and add a little marionberry syrup to it.

Serving type: bottle

06-10-2012 05:01:14 | More by Docer

secondtooth

Indiana

3.7/5  rDev +9.5%
look: 2.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

Pours an odd Kool-Aid/fruit punch red with little pink champagne-style bubbles and pretty well no lace. But appearances aren't everything.

Nose is tart berries -- very appealing, actually.

Taste is pleasantly tart, but not sweet. The hibiscus adds a floral tinge, and the coriander imparts a lightly spicy hint towards the finish, but overall the flavor is marionberry. It's a little sour, and a nicely light session beer that breaks the mold a bit.

Serving type: bottle

02-10-2013 03:32:11 | More by secondtooth