A beer for baseball? Or tacos? Off Color Brewing’s beer pairing series a hit with fans old and new

CHICAGO — Off Color Brewing released a beer last year meant to pair well with tacos. It was bright, salty, fruity and tart — like a margarita — and in a nod to the basic nature of the inspiration, Off Color gave the beer a basic name: Beer for Tacos.

It was a hit.

Beer for Tacos became Off Color’s second-biggest selling brand in just three months. That quick success made the brewery wonder what more could be wrung from the so-obvious-it’s-hard-to-believe-it-hadn’t-already-been-done equation of tailoring — and just as important, branding — beers for specific events and occasions.

A flurry of Off Color beers for things followed: Beer for Golf, Beer for Brunch, Beer for Pizza, Beer for Burgers, Beer for Beaches, Beer for Cafes, Beer for Ball Games (meaning baseball games) and even Beer for Derbies (referencing the Kentucky Derby). More are on the way.

The “Beer for” series has pushed Off Color — which launched in 2012 with a focus on arcane European styles and meticulously crafted wild ales — toward a broader and more accessible audience, and offered an unlikely financial lifeline during a COVID-19 pandemic that has seen most breweries struggle with declining sales.

The beers have also shifted the ethos of Off Color’s Chicago production facility, enough so that they have “almost taken over our production,” brewery co-founder Dave Bleitner said. He said 2020 would have been “a disaster” for Off Color financially, but the “Beer for” beers helped volume drop only minimally.

As the summer beer-drinking ramps up and the pandemic is (hopefully) tamed with vaccines, Off Color is investing more heavily in the “Beer for” series to see how far it can go. Some of last year’s hits are returning. New ones are on the way. And the brewery is trademarking the names to protect its idea. (Beer for Brunch and Beer for Tacos are registered; Beer for Golf, Beer for Burgers, Beer for Pizza, Beer for Cafes and Beer for Movies have been filed).

The “Beer for” series has resonated in new ways for Off Color, which has clung to its challenging and oftentimes fascinating ethos. That ethos is perhaps clearest in the brewery’s refusal to make an India pale ale, the quickest route to no-questions-asked sales among modern craft-beer drinkers.

“It’s been the big challenge for the brewery,” Bleitner said. “It’s challenged us in a way to get the results that we’ve gotten.”

Among them is the “Beer for” series, the success of which, Bleitner said, is rooted in simplicity.

“I feel like customers are overwhelmed sometimes, and telling it to them pretty simply has been pretty effective,” he said. “It’s not hard to figure out what (a beer) is when it tells you.”

Consider the lukewarm reception to April Rain, a beer made with the Japanese citrus fruit Sudachi and white tea. Beer for Golf is a similar creation, also made with citrus and tea — lemon and black tea, mimicking the golf-iest of all beverages, an Arnold Palmer.

April Rain has been a consistently difficult sell. But the first batch of Beer for Golf sold out online before anyone tried a sip. The second and third batches also sold out. Beer for Golf became one of fastest-selling beers in Off Color’s history.

But “Beer for” also succeeds on a deeper level: the depths of its creativity while delivering on the promise of the brand.

What makes a beer “for” golf? Or pizza? Or brunch? Or a baseball game? Or hamburgers?

It’s a simple equation, Bleitner said: “I put a word after ‘beer for’ and think of a thing that’s associated with that word, then make a beer based on that thing.”

In other words, from the base beer to each ingredient, there’s a well of intention.

“It’s a lot harder putting something after ‘beer for’ and making it meaningful than you’d think,” Bleitner said. “We get all sorts of ideas (from customers) — ‘You should do this!’ That’s great, but what should it be?”

Beer for Tacos is a gose — a lightly tart and refreshing German-style ale — layered with lime juice, pink Himalayan salt and coriander. Beer for Brunch is a mimosa-inspired Berliner Weiss, made with orange, Chardonnay grape juice, and lactobacillus for tartness. Beer for Beaches is a saison with cranberry, peach and lemon juices, meant to mimic a Sex on the Beach cocktail. Beer for Burgers, inspired by the boilermaker (beer and a whiskey shot), is a particular stunner: a helles bock aged about two months in whiskey barrels. It has the crisp outlines of a lager, but a rich, malty-vanilla core from time in the barrels.

Most head-spinning is Beer for Pizza, a dark ale meant to mimic cola; it’s made with dark Belgian Candi syrup, kola nut, lime juice, vanilla, lemon and orange zest, orange blossom, cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg and citric acid. It’s a bit confounding on its own, but perfection alongside food (and not just pizza). There’s also a cherry version that’s better still, tied together by the fruity overtones.

Roger Adamson, who handles beer marketing and education for the chain of Binny’s Beverage Depot stores, said a key in the success of the “Beer for” series is that it reflects how most people drink beer — not as an occasion unto itself, but as an accompaniment.

The beers are “an easy option for when the beer isn’t the focus, but an addition made to complement the main attraction, whether that’s food or a ballgame,” Adamson said. “Which is probably how people actually live their lives.”

But, you might wonder: What’s the twist in Beer for Ball Games? Hot dogs? Cracker Jack? Peanuts? The answer is nothing; it’s just an easy drinking cream ale, a style known for its refreshment and accessibility. That’s what struck Bleitner as what people want at baseball games: crisp, beer-flavored refreshment.

“I thought, ‘What would you drink for baseball?’ and the only thing I could come up with was beer,” he said. “We try not to be too super gimmicky with it. It’s a really fine line to walk. It’s a question of ‘Why are you doing this and how will it turn out?’ A hot dog beer isn’t really in our brand identity.”

This summer will see the release of Beer for Movies, a Kolsch made with 50 pounds of popcorn kernels, smoked malt and a touch of salt; and Beer for Bathtubs, a witbier made with chamomile, lavender and Epsom salt — “Like a bath bomb,” Bleitner said. (The “Beer for” beers are made and canned at Off Color’s Logan Square production facility; its Near North Side taproom is reserved for mostly wild and mixed fermentation ales that are bottled.)

The “Beer for” series is leading to growth that Off Color could barely have imagined a year ago, including grabbing two additional all-important shelf placements in the Jewel-Osco chain this spring.

“It was a big deal for us, because the supermarket shelves aren’t getting a lot bigger for craft brads,” Bleitner said. “Adding two brands was huge.”

Joe Escobar, Jewel-Osco’s assistant sales manager for alcohol and beverage, said he was eager to take on the brand; Beer for Pizza has been added in recent weeks to 28 Jewel-Osco stores while Beer for Tacos is sold in 24.

“When I first saw the packaging, I knew it would attract not just Off Color’s customer base, but could also resonate and attract new customers,” Escobar said. “The taste of the beer is amazing, and their play with food pairings was different from anything I have had before.”

Bleitner said he’ll continue developing ideas and variations, such as Pumpkin Beer for Cafes, which will be released in the fall.

“However the market receives the stuff will determine how it goes,” he said. “There’s endless possibilities. I find the challenge of making these things fun.”

Time will tell if Off Color can come up with a recipe for Beer for Clever Ideas.