by Brian Vandenbroek

Created on: August 13, 2011   Last Updated: February 04, 2012

As I sit looking over my previous reviews, something begins to dawn on me. My reviews skew heavily towards the ale side of the beer family. I don't have a great many lagers represented in my reviews. With that in mind, I went to my neighborhood beer store and eyed up their lagers. I decided to go for Gosser, an Austrian lager, thinking it would only be predictable to start diving right in to the German lagers. 

Rendered hopeful by the label's claims of being Austria's finest beer I took my Gosser home and looked them up. Located in Leoben, Austria, Gosser is the main brand of Goss, one of Austria's most well known breweries. Part of the Heineken group since 2003, the Goss brewery's history dates over 1000 years.  In approximately 1000 AD Countess Adula donated farmland to a local convent, which came to be known as Goss.

Among other things, the nuns began brewing beer which, for centuries was well received by the locals. This continued until 1782 when the convent was abolished and the nuns moved to presumably greener pastures. In 1860 entrepreneur Max Kober purchased parts of the convent, including the brewery. Since then, the Goss brewery has been producing Gosser lager and other products even during the troubled times of two world wars. Today the Goss brewery is one of the most modern in the country and Gosser lager can be found in many major liquor stores outside of Europe. 

Gosser is a very pale lager, barely the color of straw. Light carbonation supports a fluffy, bone white head. Retention is fairly decent, with the head being in no rush to go anywhere. Aroma is malt forward in its own way. Aroma starts off bready, bordering on grainy. Center is sweet smelling, sort of floral and honey-ish. Behind all that comes the faint aroma of hops. Hops give me notes of fresh cut grass and hay.

Gosser tastes very much like it smells. Gosser starts out malty, giving me fresh baked bread, with hints of graininess. Then it moves on to a nicely rounded center, again showing hints of honey. Finish is short and dry with just a hint of hop presence. Hops come out faintly in the finish in the same grassy hay-like quality as in the aroma.

Overall, Gosser's not a bad start in my attempt to include more lagers in my reviews. It's pleasant to the palate, center's rounded and sweet. Finish is just short and dry enough to make you ready for the next sip. While I find Gosser a little linear and straightforward in certain respects, it‘s still above average. I'd recommend this to any lager-head who wants to drink something better than mainstream American lagers. I'd also recommend Gosser with poultry, white fleshed fish, and 3 year cheddar. As it is, I'm happy to give Gosser a 7.25 out of 10.

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