Louisiana Beer Earns Silver Medal at ‘Olympics of Beer’

If ever there was an "Olympic" style competition that Louisiana people and Louisiana products could compete in, it would have to be the "Olympics of Beer".  Here along the bayou, we love our barley malt beverages and Louisiana is home to some really fine breweries too. Louisiana even has its own Brewery Trail that will take you to exotic destinations such as Shreveport, Mandeville, New Orleans, Broussard, and Arnaudville.

With that being said, you'd think that the World Beer Cup, which is the official name of the competition would have more medalists from Louisiana. By the way, "Olympics of Beer" is a name that folks call it because it involves beers from around the world in friendly competition which is very similar to the Olympic Games athletic event.

It turns out that only one Louisiana Brewery made the medal stand in the recently concluded competition. The beer earned a silver medal and is described as a kettle-soured wheat beer with kosher salt. The refreshment quality of the beer is enhanced by the addition of fresh lime.

It comes from Urban South Brewery which is located on Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans, Louisiana. Oddly enough, I don't see that brewery listed on Louisiana's  Brewery Trail, perhaps that will change following the big win at the World Beer Cup.

The beer is called Lime Cucumber Gose. Gose is a style of beer that takes its name from the river Gose in Germany and the town of Goslar. The brewing style is more than 1,000 years old. Many brewers who create that style of beer have to add salt but the originals didn't because of the distinct salinity produced by the aquifers around that part of Germany.

If you're planning on ordering one of these and don't want to sound like you're from Alexandria, Louisiana, you should know it's pronounced "go-suh". It sort of rhymes with "no sir" but with a southern accent.

The Urban South Brewery entry took the silver medal in the "Field Beer" division. The Templin Family Guava Coconut from Templin Family Brewery in Salt Lake City, Utah took the gold medal. The bronze medal was earned by Rhu Barb an entry from the Karbach Brewing Company of nearby Houston Texas. 

In beer vernacular, a "Field Beer" is any beer incorporating vegetables as flavor or carbohydrate adjuncts in either the mash, kettle, primary or secondary fermentation. In the case of Lime Cucumber Gose, the veggie is the cucumber. Which I would have never thought to put into a beer but maybe that's why I write articles about beer instead of brewing, right?

We should note that several Texas breweries were honored with gold, silver, and bronze medals at the competition. If you'd like to see the entire list of winners, you may do that here. 

And maybe next year more of our beers could be medal winners. If you want, I have an idea for a beer. We could brew a beer called the Nungesser. It only shows up when there is a crowd and free food and otherwise we're not really sure what it's there for. Y'all tell the Lt. Governor, I said "Hello", Okay? Of course, we're just picking on Billy. He helps to bring the tourists in to drink our beer and eat our food and we love that in Louisiana.