what: Oskar Blues Brewery’s Guns ‘n’ Rosé
ABV: 6 percent
cost: $8.99 for a six-pack
where: Green’s Beverage Warehouse
Keeping up with the beer world and new trends in craft brewing has been harder for me for the last several months because All About Beer and Draft magazines, once the best beer publications, have folded. A few days ago, the owner of both of them filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. This is a real loss for craft beer.
One recent trend that I had missed is so-called rosé beer. Our friend Wes Patrick at Green’s introduced me to the style with this rosé from Oskar Blues called Guns ‘n’ Rosé. This beer is constructed on a fairly bland ale, and hibiscus and prickly pear are added to impart color and flavors. The resulting flavors are a complex blend of cranberry, strawberry and melon accented by tartness from hibiscus. No real hop flavor is apparent, but hops do provide some balancing bitterness to the malt and fruit sweetness. Overall this is a tasty beer, somewhat reminiscent of a rosé wine, and would be a great warm weather refresher if the alcohol content were lower. The alcohol content should and could be reduced without affecting the flavor of this otherwise excellent beer. Cheers!
