Judge's Review: 87 Rating - Bravus Raspberry Gose (Non-Alcoholic) by Bravus Brewing Co.

Bravus Raspberry Gose (Non-Alcoholic) by Bravus Brewing Co. was judged as and NA interpretation of BJCP category 29A, Fruit Beer. Served in a traditional straight-sided cylinder glass with moderately aggressive pour at 42 degrees. 

The beer presents with a deep yellow color with a hint of red shift/pinkish hue and is very cloudy; it carries a nice cream-white foamy head of mixed bubbles and only fair stand. Outgassing is low for the gose style.

The nose starts with a sharp, almost perfumy raspberry aroma, largely washing out the nice tart-bready character beneath it. Overall, it's very sweet-tart, with light notes of white-bready malt.

The flavor starts full of ripe raspberry puree, with the hit of tart acid coming very early then trailing for the remainder of the flavor as the sweetness emerges with the lingering and pleasant but powerful and lasting berry flavor. There is very low bitterness as expected, but it diverges sharply from the base beer style in that it lacks a lemon-orange coriander element and a modestly strongly emergent sweetness and creaminess in the back mask any delicate salt character one might find. The body is light, and the finish is surprisingly long, fruity and distinctly off-dry and tart. I get a touch of salt, but its very hard to find.  Carbonation is distinctly low for the style.  

While this N/A beer is a tasty, strongly fruit-forward sweet/sour wheat ale, it suffers from masking over the true greatness of the gose style: sharp, bright, faintly spicey and very effervescent. While I recognize the challenge to do that in this format, I still think the beverage would improve with less fruit and sweetness, more coriander and a lot more CO2. Still, as far as I know, this represents a very credible take on the N/A category for those looking for the flavor profile given.