Watermelon and beer sound like an odd couple until you actually try them together, and Anderson Valley Brewing Company has been proving the pairing works for years with Briney Melon Gose. The beer is back for summer, wearing a fresh new label, and it remains one of the most refreshing things you can pull out of a cooler on a hot afternoon.
For anyone unfamiliar with the style, a Gose is a German wheat ale traditionally brewed with a touch of salt and a gentle tartness, and Anderson Valley leans into both of those traits here. Real watermelon brings the juicy sweetness, a pinch of sea salt keeps things balanced rather than syrupy, and the finish lands clean, tart, and completely bone-dry. At 4.2% ABV and just 120 calories, it is built for drinking more than one.
This is not Anderson Valley's first rodeo with the style either. Briney Melon Gose runs alongside a whole family of fruited Goses from the brewery, including the original Holy Gose that helped kick off the American love affair with this style in the first place, along with Cherry, Framboise Rose, and Blood Orange versions. Few American breweries can claim to be actual pioneers of a beer style, and Anderson Valley is one of them.
The brewery itself, founded in Boonville, California back in 1987, has built a reputation for doing things a little differently. It was the world's first solar-powered brewery, and it treats all of its own wastewater on site rather than sending it elsewhere. Even the packaging is entirely aluminum and cardboard, cutting out plastic altogether. It is the kind of behind-the-scenes commitment that most drinkers never think about, but it is nice to know it is there.
Briney Melon Gose is a genuinely easy match for warm weather food. Think grilled chicken, a piece of grilled fish, a bright summer salad, or a bit of chevre on crackers. It is the sort of beer that disappears quickly at a barbecue, largely because everyone keeps sneaking back for another can.
Look for the new can art on shelves and in taprooms now, alongside the rest of Anderson Valley's Gose lineup. Between the watermelon, the sea salt, and a brewery with genuine claim to starting this whole trend, this is a can well worth grabbing before the summer heat lets up.