Off Color Brewing Troublesome

Breewed By: Off Color Brewing in Chicago, IL

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 6-pack bought at Foremost Liquor Stores in Chicago, IL; 2013

Style/ABV: Gose, 4.5%

Reported IBUs: 10

Oh hey...something new, woo. About Off Color Brewing:

Off Color Brewing is a brewery founded in 2008 according to their Facebook, or 2014 according to their website, or 2013 if you follow their release party and the logical timeline. It really doesn't matter, I suppose. What you need to know is that this brewery is the brainchild of former Goose Island barrel guru, John Laffler, and former Two Brothers brewer, Dave Bleitner. The duo are both graduates of Siebel, and share a passion for brewing exotic, off-color beer. For more info, check out the brewery's ABOUT page.

Tonight's beer is being dumped into the Gose category on both Ratebeer and BeerAdvocate. The Troublesome is a blended wheat beer brewed with lactobacillus. Actually, this beer is a blend of two different beers: an "uninteresting wheat beer," and a "overly acidic & funky beer fermented solely with lactobacillus." The two beers are blended with coriander and salt (ah, so it must be a Gose...eh). The beer features Northern Brewer hops, pils, wheat malt, flaked wheat, and flaked oats malt...and punches in at a sessionable 4.5% ABV. Let's glass this one up, shall we?

Off Color Brewing Troublesome

The beer pours into a transparent/clear yellow body, and kicks up a finger of white head. There's a nice stream of carbonation in the glass. You might mistake this for a Pilsner or Pale Lager, but the head retention is good, with some sea foam head hanging around, there is nice lacing, and the carbonation is much more constrained.

The aroma here is very nice, like a German Wheat beer meets a Belgian Strong Ale meets a Gose. I'm getting lots of Pils malt and Belgian funk, with cream, vanilla, white sugar, clove, Pils malt, hints of dough/biscuit, and some BIG, SPICY, coriander. Huge coriander, it's very spicy. I'm getting some grainy lemon and a hint of salt as well.

The taste mirrors the nose, and I'm getting a reasonable amount of salt in the taste....I get salty clove and lemon-Belgian funk up front; that rolls into citrus, wheat, vanilla, clove, coriander, and more salty wheat takes over. There's a lot of salt, clove, coriander spice, lemon citrus, grass/wheat, and some good Belgian funk. It's a nice wheat...creamy, drinkable, and appropriately dense. I'm also picking up some grains of paradise.

This is delicious. It's medium-light bodied, with great carbonation to help move things along. The beer is creamy, and wheat-fueled, with hints of salt. It's so refreshing, and equally appropriate to pound back at 4.5% ABV. Palate depth is outstanding, and complexity is awesome too. You get salty clove and lemon and Belgian funk up front; that rolls into citrus, wheat, clove, coriander; more salty wheat dials things back up, and the beer finishes with lingering wheat, salt, citrus...dry...funky...oh man.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. I guess it could be a little more tart or sour...but I don't know. The lemon, clove, grains of paradise, and creamy wheat flavors all remind me of the best summer beers...this is some good shit. I would pair this beer with foods on a hot summer day: grilled foods, hamburgers, fruit salads, hot dogs, pasta salads, etc. You could also pair this with some upscale dining and go the burger/vegetable route. It's not quite peppery or funky enough to compete with a Saison, but it has that rustic and raw element that suggests leafy/green pairings.

Random Thought: And a 6-pack is only like 10 dollars. Very comparable to something like the Prairie Standard.