Off Color Brewing | Beer for Lounging Pale Ale

The release of a pale ale usually wouldn’t raise many eyebrows. It’s a staple of nearly any brewery. But when Off Color Brewing released a new pale ale, it was a startling surprise for many of its fans.

While other breweries make an endless supply of IPAs, pale ales and other hoppy beers, Off Color has steadfastly refused to ever make one. Off Color started in 2013 with an initial lineup of a saison, a gose and a kotbusser — instead of an IPA, pale ale and a double IPA.

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What We’re Drinking | October 11, 2021

Well, here we go. Fall Mode is now fully engaged. With that it brings stout season, PSLs, flannels and Halloween. Those of you that have been hoarding stouts in your fridge or cellar for the last six months, now is the time to bust them out! Our staff jumped on board with stout season, but is still holding on to some of the lighter beers from the summer. This is what we’re drinking.

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Strong BA Series | Off Color Brewing Barrel-Aged Dino S’mores

Barrel, chocolate, marshmallow all packaged up in Off Color Brewing’s notable 250ml bottles — it’s Barrel-Aged Dino S’mores season, and this year’s version is not to miss.

The popular Russian Imperial Stout comes in a non-barrel-aged version and typically a couple of variants as well as the barrel-aged version. This year’s BA beer spent 13 months sitting in Wild Turkey 101 bourbon barrels and the beer took to the barrel like a fish to water.

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Off Color Brewing to Add Cans to its Diverse Packaging Portfolio

Off Color Brewing has built its vibrant niche in the brewing community by doing things differently. Known for experimentation in its wide array of curious beers – and sake – the Chicago brewing destination is also familiar with experiments in packaging. Last year, Off Color brought the small-format 250ml bottle format to Chicago. Now, it’s joining a variety of its Chicago colleagues by announcing that its beer will soon be available in 16oz cans. Here are the details on Off Color’s recent packaging announcement, along with what Chicago beer drinkers should expect. 

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Off Color Brewing Introduces Beer Emblems to Continue the Brewing Conversation with Consumers

Some breweries just do things differently. Whether it’s through a specialized brewing process, unique can art or a niche marketing approach, it’s a smart business strategy to stand out from one’s competitors. Off Color Brewing is one of those unique operations.

The Chicago brewery is known for its love of cats and numerous experiments with funky fermentation processes. Its brewing is regarded as an art form that cannot be painted in broad strokes or stylistic classifications. Instead, each specific aspect of the wild brewing endeavors conducted by brewers and co-founders John Laffler and Dave Bleitner demand denotation so that it can be celebrated and understood by the typical consumer. So, Off Color is bringing something new to the marketplace that has already been met by a bevy of consumer excitement. It’s not a new beer or yeast strain, it’s beer emblems.

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Five Great Chicago Stouts You Don’t Have to Line Up For

We have officially entered that time of year where breweries begin releasing their big, barrel-aged beers. Many come with massive release events that can draw large crowds and (of course) long lines. The beers might be hard to get and if you don’t get them on release day…you’re out of luck.

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Ultimate 6er | Packing Up & Moving Out

Let me start by saying that I’m currently in the process of writing this Ultimate 6er while packing up and moving, so I hope that earns me a bit more credibility with this post. There is nothing that’s needed more than a beer while moving, and six beers is probably a good number to have at the very minimum.

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Off Color Brewing | Coffee Dino S’mores with Dark Matter Coffee

Over the past three to four months Chicago has seen a plethora of great coffee stouts released from local breweries. Off Color Brewing’s Coffee Dino S’mores made with Dark Matter coffee continues the boom we’ve seen of java-forward beer.

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Chicago Quick Sips | November 6

Quick Sips is our way of highlighting beer events, tap takeovers and other notable beer news around the city of Chicago. If you’d like to submit something to be included in the next Quick Sips, please email us at [email protected].

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Chicago Quick Sips | September 5th

Quick Sips is our way of highlighting beer events, tap takeovers and other notable beer news around the city of Chicago. If you’d like to submit something to be included in the next Quick Sips, please email us at [email protected].

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Off Color Brewing Announces Plans for Second Brewery

John Laffler of Off Color Brewing has officially announced that the brewery will be opening up a second location with a taproom in Lincoln Park.

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Off Color Brewing | Hell Broth

Off Color Brewing, known for their unique beer styles and wild ales, is set to release a new beer brewed in collaboration with Amager Bryghus in Denmark called Hell Broth.

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Inside the Tank | Off Color Brewing’s John Laffler

You’ve probably seen Off Color Brewing beer in your local beer store. The bottles stand out with their unique artwork featuring a little grain mouse. Off Color doesn’t brew your typical beer. They don’t have an IPA, instead opting to brew Sahtis, smoked beers and anything else outside the norm that head brewer and co-founder John Laffler can dream up. I sat down with John for the latest installment of Inside the Tank to get into the head of the man behind Off Color Brewing in Chicago.

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Editor’s Picks | My Favorite Chicago Beers from 2015

As 2015 comes to an end I wanted to look back at all the great beers I drank that came out of Chicago this year. The Windy City has become a booming craft beer city up there with Denver and Portland. With so many craft breweries popping up, there is no shortage of fantastic beer to try here.

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Ultimate 6er | Smoked Beers

Smoky flavors in food and drink have a long history. When the only method of cooking was using an open fire, you could pretty much expect smoke to impart a scent or flavor into whatever you were putting over it. Beer was no different. In fact, up to the 1700s, pretty much every beer was a smoke beer since the only method to dry the malt would be over an open flame. It wasn’t until after kilning methods were developed that pulled the smoke away from the malt that beer started tasting the way we know today. And smoke beers began their fast decline quickly thereafter. Read More