What is Gose?

A very special beer!

Gose is a top-fermented, sour and slightly salty tasting specialty beer. Its name is derived from its place of origin, the old imperial town of Goslar in the Harz Mountains, through which the little river Gose flows. In the Middle Ages, Goslar beer – known as Gose for short – spread throughout the Harz region, then on through Anhalt to Saxony, settling in the area around Dessau and Halle. Since 1738 it has found its new home in Leipzig – thanks to the legendary recommendation of the “Old Dessauer”. Around 1900, the Gose was even the most drunk beer in the trade fair city, so that people soon spoke of Leipzig as the “Gosenstadt”!

Due to the expropriation and closure of the old Gose breweries after the war – especially the most important brewery in Döllnitz – the Gose almost came to an end. However, since the revival of the old tradition of Ritterguts Gose in 1999, this old style of beer has seen a positive trend and is now once again on tap in over a hundred inns in and around Leipzig and Halle. For some years now, Ritterguts Gose has also been available in other parts of Germany as well as internationally and is enjoying growing popularity. 

The Gose represents its own, very old type of beer. It has certain similarities to Berliner Weisse or Lichtenhainer beer as well as to the Belgian Geuze. As a special beer, the Gose may still be produced with coriander and salt as an exception, which is why it does not comply with the German Purity Law. These special ingredients and the additional lactic acid fermentation give it its very special character!

In earlier times, the Gose – especially in Leipzig – was offered in the typical, bocksbeutel-like Gose bottles with long neck without closure. In this so-called “open Gose”, a plug formed as a natural bottle closure due to the yeast rising and gradually condensing in the course of fermentation, which was sloshed off before serving. In Halle/Saale, on the other hand, there was rather the “Stöpsel-Gose”, which was sold in ordinary patent stopper bottles.

By the way, when you toast with Gose, you cross the beer glasses and say “Goseanna!” to it.