Vacanza Key Lime Pie Gose by Wild Leap Brew Co. is being evaluated as a Specialty Fruit Beer (2021 BJCP Guidelines Category 29C) with the special considerations of featured fruit being lime with special ingredients of graham cracker and vanilla within the base style of Gose (Category 23G). 

With a blindfold on, the aroma may lead you to believe that someone placed a slice of key lime pie in front of you rather than a beer. All the components are present: graham cracker, freshly squeezed lime juice, vanilla, sweet whipped cream and a hint of coconut. The aroma transported my imagination onto a white sandy beach and whet the appetite extremely well. 

The beer is a hazy blonde with a dense and fluffy white head that persists well and leaves lacing along the glass.  

The flavor is well balanced among the major components: lime, salinity, acidity, sweetness and cracker/crust. The lime is appropriately the most dominant characteristic, but more tartness and salt would be welcome to emphasize the base style. This beer’s intention may be to closely resemble a summer dessert favorite, but it is on the cusp of being too sweet. 

A delicious summer fruit beer that I would gladly enjoy at the beach or poolside on a hot day. A greater presence of acidity would take this to the next level. As it stands, it drinks more like a blonde ale with adjuncts than a gose.