Beer for Lounging
Off Color Brewing

 

16 fl oz. can, no date. "American Pale Ale" Off Color Brewing ventures into familiar territory for perhaps the first time ever. Definitely the closest I've ever seen these guys come to brewing an IPA. Brewed with Cascade whole cone hops according to the can.

Poured to a Duvel tulip snifter.
Beautiful pale orange color, finger of frothy soapy white head, lots of chunky sediment in the glass. This looks just excellent.
Herbal, earthy, piney. Bready malt presence is noticeable.
The pils malt comes through wonderfully, adding a perfect touch of honeyed sweetness. Super crisp, creamy, & well balanced stuff.
Super light, fluffy, crisp, creamy, super easy drinking stuff.

16 oz can into a pint glass. Slightly hazy effervescent golden color with a long-lived foamy white head. Doughy malt, pine, mandarin orange on the nose. Smooth malt flavor balanced with mild hop bitterness and sweet orange citrus. Medium bodied and buttery smooth mouthfeel. Very drinkable

16oz draft pour shows a cloudy yellow-orange body briefly floating a 1" head of tight, white bubbles that recedes to a cap leaving random spotted lacing.

Muted aroma is beer focused with notes of biscuit malt and lemon rind.

Flavor is perfect for basketball watching: aka lounging. Just enough citrus from the hops to get your attention without getting too puckery.

Medium feel

Overall a solid example of the style.

 

As someone who rarely drinks APAs in my accelerating age, I need a refresher course. (Lounging is only one of five APA I reviewed in 2022.) So I drank Lounging side-by-side with the APA classic from Sierra Nevada. After all, both have Cascade hops (albeit SN's recipe uses other hops also for bittering.) The comparison was interesting, but not worth doing again as SN's PA defines the clarity and sharpness of the style and Off Color.... well... they make world-class saisons, a sloppy style (which I can't get enough of.)

And I don't think I can suggest any improvements for Lounging. It is what it is.... I'm guessing it uses a saison or at least a variant of a house yeast because it is, well, messy. But after all, what is Lounging for?

1/15/23 Bought another in Off Color's Beer For varietal (available only at Mousetrap.) And glad I did as I needed to edit the above review and I also increased the rating. Lounging may be designed as a session, but it popularly paired well with pizza last night.

Surprisingly hazy, quite like an unfiltered farmhouse ale. Very attractive beer overall, even if it isn't quite a traditional hoppy APA.

Nose is a blend of rustic and hoppy notes: pale and crystal malt, candied tangerine, damp pine, ruby red grapefruit.

I can't help but think Off Color used their house yeast from their funkier beers, as this beer is simply more complex than a straight forward Cascade-hopped APA. It packs more flavor in a 5% ABV package, too. It's at once a throwback to classic APAs (a la Sierra Nevada) and a more rustic, if not exactly funky, take on the style.

Really quite nice.

C+ / AVERAGE

The classic Cascade hops and the sweet bready Pale, Pils, and CaraMalt malts are incredibly well balanced. A fantastic pale ale. So thrilled to see this as a new year round offering from the brewery.

 

Thanks to Barber for this surprise.
16oz can, no date.
Pours a slightly opaque gold, fluffy white cap assertively tops 2 fingers in height. Slowly the foam settles to a thin cap with a milky ring clinging to the glass. Scattered lacing.
Nose is a smooth ride of pine, orange zest, peppery herbal notes, caramalt, and a vaguely Saison like yeast note.
Flavor carries the same hop notes forward but allows for the malt to pop just a tad more than hinted at in the nose. Quite nice. The mild herbal spice gives a little room for what I am again picking up as a yeasty note. That detracts a bit from what is otherwise a tasty Cascade forward pale ale.
Mouthfeel is on the lighter side of medium, with mild carbonation, and a slightly soft, dry finish.
Overall, a nice session ale. I'm just slightly curious about the yeasty notes.

 

 

Forum talk of BfL in comparison to SNPA because Off Color said it was their influence for their beer. Thought I'd see what I thought.

Couldn't find any real dating on the can, but it's a new release. Poured into my Nonic Impy.

L -- Hazy, pale gold to peach color with a thin, but persistent white head.

S -- Light citrus hops with mellow biscuit and light grainy malts back.

T -- Herbal and citrus hops up front -- mellow bitterness balanced with lightly sweet biscuit and caramel malts in the backbone. Bitterness follows through the finish into the aftertaste with herbal hops leading the way.

M -- Mouthfeel is crisp to near dry with a light body bordering on medium.

O -- Well, heck yeah. I get the SNPA influence with the Cascade hops and just the right touch of malt backbone. It's maybe a bit lighter in body and not refined as much in balance, but all flavors hearken to SNPA. A nice drinker.

 

Cloudy orange, billowing cumulus clouds of foam, rings of chunky lacing. Looks immaculate and old school.

Aroma is soft, mild candied orange peel and light pale malt. Pretty simple and straightforward.

Soft feel, malty but not overly sweet, crackery, faint orange peel, mild hop bitterness. Balanced and easygoing, smooth carbonation, mellow feel. Mild citrus and pale malt linger. Overall it’s simple and easy drinking, no flaws. Simplicity is underrated.

Released 12/30/21; drank 1/9/22 @ the Yarchives.

Cloudy dark orange appearance.

A rough pour yielded a huge off-white head; frothy lace.

Orange peel, mild cream & mild dry grass notes in the nose.

Creamy medium mouthfeel.

Orange peel, dry grass & faint cream flavors.

Balanced & enjoyable, if a touch dry for me. I'd have another...

Pours a cloudy tinged bright golden-orange color. Its largely clear - i.e. not a hazy at all - but its also not perfectly clear. Two finger white sudsy head forms on the beer, lingers a moment, then dissipates leaving a thin layer of foam on top of the beer. The aroma has notes of pine, hints of orange, citrus, woodsy notes and some green leafiness. Very old school on the nose thanks to those cascade hops.

Taste essentially follows the nose with the hops coming across nicely on the malt backbone with notes of orange, pine, wood and some green hop notes. The malt backbone has a noticeable caramalt component giving it that carmelly backbone. Really light balanced hop bitterness on the back end. Feel is light, medium bodied, easy drinking. Mild carbonation.

Overall, this reminds me a lot of SNPA in its supreme balance and drinkability. Its an excellent pale ale and I hope a regular offering because I will certainly pick it up again.

 

 

 

Bready with some nice hop character, love this beer!