Beer #105 - W/C 27 February 2017
BREWERY // Henok Fentie & Karl Grandin started Omnipollo in 2011 as a new kind of brewery. Henok was a longtime home brewer turned pro and Karl an artist and designer. “Me and Karl work independently,” says Fentie. “I write recipes and brew and Karl creates art, yet we’re in constant conversation about what influences us at a specific time”. They conceive different recipes at home and travel to different breweries around the world to brew them. Within a very short time the Swedish gypsy brewers entered the RateBeer Top 100 Brewers in the World and there they have stayed there with their prolific releases of fearlessly experimental beers. Recently we've seen a range of dessert themed beers from Henok with the Buxton/Omnipollo Ice Cream series as well as other mind-boggling creations such as a Maple Coconut Toast Imperial Porter and an Islay Barrel Aged Pecan Mudcake Imperial Stout.
BEER // We go almost 2 years without mentioning the style then - BAM - we make you drink 3 gose beers in the space of a few weeks. Wrapping up our hat trick from Omnipollo is a gose brewed with rock salt, conditioned on pineapple and lightly dry-hopped. The beer style is named for the river Gose in Lower Saxony which historically provided local brewers with slightly salty water. The style almost disappeared but has recently seen a big resurgence. One might expect the addition of acidic pineapple to overwhelm the rather delicate beer but Henok (not generally known for his restraint) has created a subtly balanced beer where the guest does not overpower the host. Aroma is of tart pineapple with some earthy spiciness. The flavour is of tart pineapple and lemon curd, salty breadsticks and Greek yoghurt. Complex but also crisp and refreshing. It is strongly recommended that #3.5 is accompanied by plenty of sunshine.
BREWERY // Omnipollo
BEER // Magic #3.5
STYLE // Pineapple Gose
ORIGIN // Sweden (by way of Belgium)
ABV // 3.5%
TEMPERATURE // Cold - 5-7C
FOOD MATCH // Seafood & Pineapple Fried Rice. Kimchi. Spinach & Ricotta Cannelloni.
GLASS // Stange. Flute