South Carolina’s Westbrook Brewing Company is an adventurous craft brewer with an excellent graphic artist working on its cans. The flagship beer, a variant on Belgian witbier called White Thai (ha ha), is light and lightly spiced, and one of the most pleasant-tasting craft beer you can get in a can. For a brewery that’s only been around since the turn of the decade, Westbrook is getting good placement; in New York City we’ve seen Westbrook White Thai, One Claw (a rye pale ale) and Gose in several corners, including a robust presence at Whole Foods.

What’s a Gose, you might ask? A style that predates the German purity laws and was grandfathered in to certain breweries in Leipzig, a Gose is a sour wheat beer brewed with salt and coriander and traditionally served in a very tall narrow glass. They say (“they” being the Internet) that in Leipzig the acidity is cut with a shot of Kummel, a caraway liqueur. Gose comes in around 4% ABV and 5 IBUs, so the kick of 38% ABV Kummel certainly does add something. You can find a Gose imported from Leipzig in many specialty stores, and it’s worth the money, especially if you have Kummel on hand — if you love sourdough rye, you’ll have an out of body experience when you try the two together.

Westbrook Gose is good but not otherworldly. It pours cloudy yellow with a perforated head. There’s a sharp lemony scent that is completely borne out by the first taste. This is no Mike’s Hard Lemonade. (By the way, what is that stuff? In the interest of journalism we tried one for this piece, and it was appalling. Sweet fizzy drinks shouldn’t be allowed to get you drunk.)

Westbrook Gose is not sweet. It’s basically an unsweetened lemon-flavored soda that knocks you down and drags you into the ocean. On its own, it’s strange and delicious, and the salty aftertaste may make you crave a second can. (Beware, and be sure to hydrate a little extra afterwards if you succumb.) Paired with a shot of Kummel, everyone we tried it on — except supertasters and the caraway-averse — found something to like.

Bringing lost or outlaw recipes back into circulation is a current trend in the craft beer world. For example, Dogfish Head has several beers in the Ancient Ales series currently on the market (Midas Touch, Theobroma, Sah’tea). We’ve also seen a Gruit on shelves and are hoping against hope to have someone pour us a definitive Three Threads someday. For now, Westbrook has the domestic Gose market to itself. Good for them. Try it out if you’re looking for something new.

Bottom photo by Jordan Davis