De Garde Bu Weisse

Last summer I managed to get pretty addicted to drinking goses. I’ve spent years gravitating towards higher ABV brews when I’m out with friends, but as I’ve gotten older, it’s started to get harder and harder to hit more than one or two bigger beers in an evening and still be an active participant in the rest of the night’s (or day’s) activities. A nice gose (my go-to was Anderson Valley’s Briny Melon) is a great way to enjoy a sour beer, without dealing with the consequences of drinking something higher in alcohol content.

Lower ABV beers have actually started to become quite a trend over the past few years. Along with a ton of goses, last year we saw plenty of session IPAs pop up all over the place, as well as a resurgence of Berliner Weissbiers.

Now was we approach the summer, some of those low-ABV gems have started to pop up in stores and bars. On a recent trip to one of my favorite local bars I came across a Berliner Weissbier, Bu Weisse, from de Garde Brewing. The thing that drew me in? This one clocks in at just 2.3%.

When we ordered it, the table discussion immediately devolved into “Why bother?” when it comes to something like this. While I enjoy the low-ABV stuff more and more these days, at 2.3% I could probably drink this literally all day and still not be very buzzed, which the consensus of the conversation was…that’s perfect.