At Goose Island, John Laffler worked with one of Chicago beermaking’s cult successes: Bourbon Brand County Stout, an imperial stout with a fearsome 14 percent alcohol content, aged in used bourbon barrels, and once hunted for by fans on their release dates like a Wonka golden ticket, but these days you can find them at 7-11. Laffler left Goose Island and in March 2013 launch his own Off Color Brewing with Dave Bleitner (formerly of Two Brothers) in a factory building on the western edge of Chicago’s Logan Square. In November 2017, Off Color opened their Mouse Trap taproom in Chicago’s Lincoln Park finally allowing Off Color fans to not only sample and try the beers out of fancy glasses but see the brewers hard at work as well. Today, Off Color is known for its funky beers, Dino S’mores stout, an IPA-free menu, and mice illustrations. Stop by Peaks & Pints and try three Off Color beers in a mini, in-house flight we’re calling Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Off Color.
Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Off Color
Off Color Oncilla Taxi
6% ABV
Oncilla Taxi is a saison aged in a Sangiovese puncheon with Brett and a Carmen Miranda hat of tropical fruits including finger limes, yuzu, pink lemons, mandarin oranges, mandarinquats, limequats, calamondins and Fukushu fumquats. It hits the nose with tons of oak wood, white wine, white grape, leather, vanilla, and tart funk, followed by tart funk, citrus zest, and big flavorful earthy, grainy, bready yeast on the finish.
Off Color Dino S’mores
10.5% ABV
At Off Color’s launch party in March 2013, a local pastry chef cooked up a batch of dinosaur-shaped s’mores for munching; these treats provided the inspiration for an imperial stout Off Color would later brew in collaboration with Danish brewer Amager Bryghus and venerable Windy City bottle shop West Lakeview Liquors. The beer — flavored with marshmallow fluff, molasses, vanilla beans, graham flour and cocoa nibs — was named Dino S’mores and has been available since 2014. It’s sweet and sugary, with a bouquet of blackstrap molasses, graham cracker and marshmallow fluff atop a layer of alcohol, vanilla, marshmallow, and milk chocolate.
Off Color Coffee Dino S’mores
10.5% ABV
Dino S’mores combines the brash, American interpretation of Russian Imperial Stouts with bold accents and round flavors with Scandinavian brewing techniques placing a greater emphasis on dark roasted malts and drier body to accentuate bitterness. The amalgam of these two trans-Atlantic approaches results in a very modern and deceptively rich, complex stout. Coffee Dino S’mores has the original ingredients — flavored with marshmallow fluff, molasses, vanilla beans, graham flour and cocoa nibs — plus coffee. Expect chocolate mousse, marshmallow creme, and rich, dark malts meld with bright notes of raspberry and an undercurrent of blueberry jam from fruit forward Costa Rican coffee sourced and lovingly roasted by Sump Coffee out of St Louis, Missouri. A long, slow extraction using a Kyoto drip method accentuates the vivacious fruits, sugary body, and floral character of this phenomenal small batch lot without over extracting acidity.
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
