Off Color… Pale Ale?!
2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the release of Cascade hops, an event that would spark the rebirth of the American craft beer industry. Finding a home in Anchor Liberty Ale and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale over the following decade, Cascade hops have been an industry mainstay ever since. Sierra Nevada in particular achieves perfection with simple ingredients and an acute attention to process. Prior to starting Off Color, John and I decided we didn’t even want to play in that arena for multiple reasons. Among them being that with radical growth in the number of breweries, we figured every single one would be trying to replicate the success with a sensible pale ale, and we were simply not good enough (or smart enough) to attempt to convince drinkers to buy our pale ale when they could simply buy Sierra Nevada. We also felt there were (and still are) many styles of beer that needed to be explored and we built our company around an emphasis of that simple point.
The changes during the last 10 years have been nothing short of crazy: Beers that look like and are described as milkshakes now lead the category; many consumers understand and are sometimes okay with cans of beer that explode if not refrigerated; brewers are throwing hops into the mash; putting a vodka soda in a narrow can has lead to a multi-billion dollar market segment, and on and on. But that’s all fine. I’m not yelling helplessly at the sky. It’s amazing our customers follow us down these odd beer journeys we often go on. A flagship lineup of a saison, a gose, and a kotbusser in 2013 almost seems as crazy as introducing a sensibly brewed flagship Cascade single-hopped pale ale in 2022 — which is so uncool, it might work! When it once felt like we were the crazy ones, now it feels more like we are the only sane ones (at least Off Color drinkers are the sane ones).
When starting off, we were humble enough to acknowledge we did not have the knowledge, skill, or equipment to try to improve upon (or even replicate) our favorite pale ales. While certainly our equipment has improved (no comment on if we are more knowledgeable or skilled) we felt it is still important to have reasons for drinkers to pick our pale ale, so we came up with some ground rule regarding our pale ale:
- Pale ales should be enjoyed fresh, so our pale ale will be staying almost exclusively in our local market. Hop character falls off too fast to have this beer sitting on the shelf in far off markets where local brands are going to be both fresher and likely to have more of a following in the community. Sorry, but if you can’t find a decent locally made pale ale in your local market, it’s time to take a trip to Chicago anyway (unless it’s winter, then just wait).
- We were going to celebrate Cascade hops. It’s the only hop we want in an Off Color pale ale. (But if both Off Color and Galaxy hops have staying power for another 40 years, we’ll make a pale ale with those too!)
- Focus on balance not buzzwords. We took the same approach to brewing a pale ale as every other style we have explored. Take inspiration from the past and apply a unique perspective, but above all make it tasty and approachable.
Our American Pale Ale differs from tradition in several ways. First, we use pilsner malt as the base with only a small amount of pale malt and very light toasted caramel malts. The first American Pale Ales have a sweet chewiness to balance firm bitterness. This balance is difficult to achieve as a novice brewer could end up with a beer that tastes like candy or old timey cough syrup. So we kinda downplayed that whole balancing act and focused instead on a drier beer achieved through malt selection. Pilsner malt offers a cleaner cereal base than the slightly darker pale malt which on its own adds a sweeter, nutty base. We also enhanced the pilsner malt base with a small portion of pale ale and light caramel malt to prevent the mouthfeel from becoming too flat against the hop profile. Because of this cleaner base, we have to be more conservative with hop bitterness than traditional American Pale Ales while still showcasing some balancing bitterness unlike the milkshake style of brewing, which aims to blast hop aroma and flavor, but offers little to no bitterness.
The base is designed to showcase Cascade hops in all their piney, grapefruity glory. To do this, we selected from several different whole cone Cascade hop lots from our supplier in the Pacific Northwest. This beer is much more of an agricultural product since so much of the profile is coming from the hop additions and thus will likely vary year-to-year with changes in the hop crops. Unlike most hops that come in pellet form and are easier to handle — we contracted whole cone hops as they maintain a little more character than those going through the pelletization process and can be used in our hop back.
Hop backs were traditionally first used in the UK as a wort filter rather than to impart hop character. As the boiled wort is transferred to the fermentation vessel, it runs through a bed of whole hop cones. This infuses the wort with hop essential oils while minimizing the myrcene oils and limiting the grassy flavor often associated with dry hopping, but still imparting a strong hop aroma.
The hop essential oils make this a Beer for Lounging. In fact, hop oils have long been used in aromatherapy for their sedative qualities. A perfect example of this is the historical use of a hop pillow, a small cloth bag stuffed with hop cones. The hop pillow would go under or near your pillow and the heat from your head would free the hop essential oils and aid in sleep. This sedative effect along with the session strength alcohol (5% ABV) also helps make this the perfect beer for lounging. (Any stronger and we’d have a Beer for Passing Out.)
Maybe we don’t need to explain why we made this American Pale Ale, maybe we are stupid for not doing it eariler. But we’ve been having a blast on our journey through beer and we appreciate you coming along with us. And we will continue to explore beer in unexpected ways (we get bored easily). But this beer journey would not have been possible if we just chased trends and made beer ending in IPA. With a market that has gone all milkshake kookoo bananas, sensibly made American Pale Ales are now something that should be re-explored. And we still vow not to make an IPA… unless,I guess, it becomes woefully under-appreciated in the craft beer market.
