Pizza Earth Theory: A Lichtenhainer Imperial Pineapple Gose from Schmulz

Pizza Earth Theory, "Brewed by the Beard," 
Shmuel (Schmulz) Naky:  
A Lichtenhainer Imperial Pineapple Gose. 

I've written on many occasions about the strange and wondrous beers brewed by Shmuel (Schmulz) Naky, either under his own "Brewed by the Beard" label or for Birateinu, The Jerusalem Beer Center, where he formerly worked.  

But I really had to stretch the powers of my sensory perception when I drank his Pizza Earth Theory, a Lichtenhainer Imperial Pineapple Gose!  Lichtenhainer, as everyone knows, is a sour, smoked German wheat beer, and Schmulz chose the style to showcase his appreciation for delicious pineapple pizza.           

On the technical side, he used pale, smoked and biscuit malt, oatmeal, and Magnum hops.  A large amount of pineapple puree was added during fermentation.  Alcohol by volume reached 10%.

Love it or hate it: Pineapple Pizza.

The beer pours out a cloudy orange color (you can also call it "hazy golden") with a minimal head.  We saw pieces of something floating in the beer, presumably pineapple.  The dominant aroma was smoke; not smoked meat, more like smoked cheese.  It was quite appetite-invigorating.

The primary tastes were smoke, salt, and spicy pineapple which tingled my tongue.  The sourness definitely dominated the bitterness.  The taste sensations were intense, as I'm sure Schmulz intended them to be.  This is not a beer to be taken lightly, or to be quaffed down with some pub grub.  The flavors should be appreciated by themselves.   

Even though Pizza Earth Theory was launched several months ago, bottles are still available for purchase at Birateinu in Jerusalem and their online store.