Off Color Brewing - Mousetrap

It’s Offtoberfest, which means we’re releasing a new stein. Mark your calendars!! Waddle Keep the Stein Night is coming up at Mousetrap on Monday September 23rd from 5pm-10pm. We ran out of band members, so this stein features brand new art highlighting the most important mouse at Oktoberfest. The beer server. As for the event, you know the deal. For $12, get a pour of Waddle in the new 0.5l stein and you keep it! $5 refills all night. Any extra glassware will be for sale online and at the taproom after the event.

Big mews! Cat Fiend, our caffeinated, uncarbonated, gluten-free Hard Iced Tea is back at the taproom in 4pks of 16oz cans to-go.

All the flavor and balance you’d expect from a hard iced tea brewed with whole-leaf black tea by the Off Color team. Unsweetened, uncarbonated, gluten free but contains moderate alcohol and caffeine so you can indulge day or night.

SECRET TEAS:
Of course we are going to use a fancy ass blend of teas:

China black - a classic black tea from China with a lightly sweet and earthy profile serves as the base for our blend

Ceylon black - Sri Lankan grown black tea provides body with a floral, brisk finish

Darjeeling black- grown in the foothills of the Himalayas, this tea adds a a rich color, touch of astringency, and raisined blackberry note

How did we come up with this blend of tea? We drink a lot of tea. This batch is available exclusively at Mousetrap, but if you keep digging it, maybe we’ll make some more.

Newsflash! Mousetrap is open regular hours on Labor Day!

It’s not a hot dog. It’s a Superdawg.

It starts with the poppy seed bun and the all-beef Superdawg®, then comes the golden mustard, the neon green relish, the diced onions, the pickled green tomato, and, finally, the sport peppers. All that’s missing is the beer. Consider that problem corrected.

A collaboration in the making since 1948, Beer for Superdawg® is an easy-drinking “Chicago-Style” Pilsner. An elevated hop profile and a crispy bite cuts right through the big signature flavors of a pure beef Superdawg® while not overwhelming the nuance from the garden of toppings that adorn a Chicago style dawg. This one pairs perfectly with a night at the drive-in.

Beer for Superdawg® is available exclusively at Superdawg in Wheeling and Mousetrap.

Sī Fáng 4pks are back in stock at the taproom! Our collaboration with QXY Dumplings is intensely scented with Osmanthus flowers while a delicate black tea directly imported by QXY lends heady notes of peach blossoms and nectarine to a honeyed base of lightly kilned lager malt with a deft handful of herbal, spicy Perle hops. Reminiscent of warm, spice-ladened breezes across verdant tea fields and the soft pater of floral scented raindrops. Also available exclusively at QXY Dumplings.

Glasses are clean and ready to be filled with beer. Event starts at 5pm. Five Squared Pizza will be in the house with their most delicious pizza.

Mark your calendars!! A week from tonight, we’re releasing Beer for Huddles, our Amber Ale, as well as hosting a keep the glass night.

Check out the sweet new glass featuring our Old-Timey football playing capybaras. It even has a football imprint on the bottom. Events starts at 5pm on Thursday, August 15th at the taproom. Any extra glassware will be for sale online the day after the event.

Offtoberfest has officially started!! Waddle, which is brewed in the Märzen style, features biscuity malts from dark Munich malt reminiscent of freshly baked bread. Subtle and spicy hop finish add enough character to prevent the final beer from being overly sweet. Now available on draft and in 4pks of 16oz cans to-go at the taproom with distribution to follow. Keep an eye on our social media for a Keep the Stein night in early September (you’re gonna love the new art!).

This sold out really quickly a couple of weeks ago when it was available for a night, so Five Squared Pizza is bringing back their Superdawg collaboration pizza slice this weekend only.

Pop-up hours at Mousetrap below:

Thursday: 5pm- 9pm
Friday: 5pm - 9pm
Saturday: Noon - 7pm

Today is the day!! Beer for Hot Dogs Keep the Glass Night at Mousetrap goes from 5pm-10pm with a very special guest. Superdawg Drive-in will be in the house with a limited amount of free Superdawg samples (please note, this says “samples” not dinner) while supplies last. Any extra glassware will be for sale online and at the taproom after the event.

Some might say this new offering is a bullseye! Our new British Pub Ale is now pouring on the nitro line, exclusively at Mousetrap.

BIG PIZZA NEWS! Tomorrow (Thursday) for one night only, Five Squared Pizza is bringing back their Italian Beef inspired pizza slice. They’ll be at Mousetrap from 5-9pm. Hint. This one pairs perfectly with our American Pale Ale, Beer for Lounging.

Just a reminder that Mousetrap is open regular hours today, but Five Squared is taking the day off before returning Friday.

If you’re off, enjoy the day!

New slice in the oven 👀

Special Five Squared Pizza Pop-up Hours at Mousetrap today, Wednesday 7/3 from 4-9pm.

One day only, you can get a new Five Squared & Superdawg collaboration slice meant to pair with our recent release Beer for Hot Dogs.

The Superdawg Square features poppy seed lined crust, Five Squared’s house cheese blend, golden mustard sauce, Superdawg slices, and neon green relish. Sport Peppers and pickle available on the side.

If you missed us in June, the second meeting of the Off Color Book Club is Tuesday, August 13th at 7pm at Mousetrap. The second book will be The Nix by Nathan Hill, a story about a son and the mother who left him, which is set in and around the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. This one is a bit longer so we’ll give you a some extra time to read it before we meet just days prior to the 2024 Democratic National Convention descends on Chicago. Should be a fun discussion. Feel free to grab the book at a local bookstore or if you’re a library person, The Nix is currently available in both physical and ebook options from the Chicago Public Library.

Feel free to RSVP through social media direct message if you’re planning on reading and attending. We will be pairing the book with our appropriately named The One Percent, which all participants will get to try that night.

NEW BEER ALERT!

Introducing Beer for Hot Dogs. This light, clear, and crisp BEER will cut right through the rich, fattiness of a pure beef Chicago style hot dog with all the trimmings. Expect a sweet, fruity essence from applewood dried malt (In the malting process, pale colored malt is typically dried by heat sources with neutral flavor. By including malt that was dried over applewood, the malt profile takes on a new dimension that adds an essence of apple with little to no smokiness) and a slightly spicy hop note from traditional German hops adds depth of flavor that separates Beer for Hot Dogs from a typical mass produced lager.

Releases today at Noon. Distribution to follow. Shirts and prints also available.

Today is the day! We’re finally releasing a beverage it’s appropriate to add ice to! Cat Fiend Hard Iced Tea releases today at noon.

All the flavor and balance you’d expect from a hard iced tea brewed with whole-leaf black tea by the Off Color team. Unsweetened, uncarbonated, gluten free but contains moderate alcohol and caffeine so you can indulge day or night.

SECRET TEAS:
Of course we are going to use a fancy ass blend of teas:

China black - a classic black tea from China with a lightly sweet and earthy profile serves as the base for our blend

Ceylon black - Sri Lankan grown black tea provides body with a floral, brisk finish

Darjeeling black- grown in the foothills of the Himalayas, this tea adds a a rich color, touch of astringency, and raisined blackberry note

How did we come up with this blend of tea? We drink a lot of tea. This batch will be available exclusively at Mousetrap, but if you dig it, maybe we’ll make some more.

Tomorrow is gonna be beautiful which is perfect for what we have planned. Thursday, June 27th from 6-730pm, Pawtraits by Sabrina will be on the Mousetrap patio doing dog photo shoots (with an option to purchase digital copies of photos you love) and you and your four-legged friends should definitely stop through.

Added bonus: any current foster pups can get a free fancy headshot to help get them adopted. Hope to see you there!

We’re taking a rare day off.

MOUSETRAP IS CLOSED TUESDAY, JUNE 25TH.

We’ll be back regular hours Wednesday.

Coming up Saturday from 1-4pm, Sara Anais will be on the Mousetrap patio, drawing dog caricatures. Feel free to bring your best buds through and get a fun pawtrait done 🐶

Yuzu Fierce has a cousin. Blueberry. Now available exclusively at the taproom.

Inspired by the German tradition of serving Berliner Weiss style beer with a shot of fruit juice, Blueberry Yuzu Fierce is a fresh twist on our acidic wheat beer. Pumped with blueberry juice, it pours deep ruby red and has all the notes of blueberry lemonade Italian ice with a cleansing tart finish.

Looks what’s getting labeled today 👀

Beaver sighting behind the taproom 🦫

Strawberry Beer for Tacos is now available. Need we say more?

Did you miss our double release last weekend? Both of these beers are still pouring (and available to-go) at the taproom.

Tequila Barrel Aged Beer for Tacos: There’s only one thing that a person could say is “missing” from our margarita inspired gose with lime. The tequila. Well not this time. For this FOBAB bronze medal winning version of Beer for Tacos, we spent three months aging our slightly tart German style wheat beer in both lime gin barrels and “pink” tequila barrels which held red wine prior to aging tequila. The blend provides a delicate balance of spirit characteristics of both barrels while picking up minimal alcoholic heat. The tequila barrels infused hints of agave aromatics and a distinctly tequila mid-body flavor while the lime gin barrels contributes notes of Key lime peel and a citric acid brightness. This is a beer worthy of drinking to celebrate eleven years.

Coffee Dino S’mores 2024: Our storied Imperial Marshmallow Stout blended with Double Black Kyoto style slow drip concentrate from Chicago’s native; Kyoto Black Coffee. This laborious, artisan method of coffee extraction slowly drips cold water drop by drop over coarse ground beans in a tall beaker. The rate of flow is balanced with the outlet so the snail paced extraction takes place over the course of several hours. One’s patience is rewarded as this tedious process coaxes rich, full bodied expressions from the coffee with markedly lower acidity retaining nuances that are otherwise lost in quicker or hotter brewing methods.

Jackson Po***ck splashes of Oregon grown Pinot Noir, elephantine blackberries, and blueberry juice from the molasses slow Kyoto style coffee extraction express over a rich, silky base of whole bean vanilla, marzipan, and toffee brittle. Finish is a cracked black pepper night broken open by the sultry, floral breeze of a Tahitian sunrise and the promise of adventure a new day brings.

Both of these are Mousetrap exclusive.

We’re open regular hours todays. Come have a patio beer.

Today. We celebrate eleven years. Open at noon.

We see you all reading at the taproom throughout the week and love hearing what books you’re enjoying, and everyone else cool has one, so we were like, it’s definitely time for the Off Color Book Club, and we paired with our friend to start one.

The first book is going to be Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Set in the midst of a post pandemic collapse of civilization, the story follows a troupe of actors and musicians called The Traveling Symphony as they travel the Midwest and attempt to keep the idea of art alive in a time when much of humanity has forgotten, or never known, it.

We will be pairing the book with our appropriately named Maibock Town Musicians, which all participants will get to try that night.

First Meeting is Tuesday, June 11th at 7pm at Mousetrap. Feel free to RSVP through direct message if you’re planning on reading and attending.

*This book is currently available to checkout both physically and digitally from the Chicago Public Library with no wait and can be purchased at independent bookstores around Chicago as well. Starting next week there will also be a copy to read available all month at the front counter while you’re enjoying a beer at Mousetrap.

**Looking ahead, the second book will be The Nix by Nathan Hill, a story about a son and the mother who left him which is set in and around the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. This one is a bit longer so we’ll give you a couple months and plan on meeting Tuesday, August 13th at 7pm, just before the 2024 Democratic National Convention descends on Chicago. Pairing beer to be determined.

This is amazing. The Dodo wrote a little article about Sprinkles, the duck who made her nest in one of our back patio bourbon barrels.

Brewery Creates A Moat Of Whisky To Protect A New Mom And Her Little Family She's visited with her ducklings every day since.

Fun event coming up Tuesday, May 21st at Mousetrap - Beerside Chats: From Page to Stage or Think to Drink.

The Beer Culture Center and A Red Orchid Theatre have come together for a series of conversations around the world premiere production of TURRET, now playing at The Chopin Theatre.

Throughout the 3 week series, they’ll engage in a different theme and discussion around the creation of the play, the production, and the intersectionality of beer and community.

Week I is all about going from the page to the stage or having a think and getting to a drink. How do ideas and words transform into final products, on stage and in a glass?

On Tuesday May 21st, Mousetrap will feature a conversation with TURRET Assistant Director Sadieh Rifai, Script Supervisor Hilary Williams, and Off Color Brewing's Ben Ustick, moderated by Beer Culture Center Board Chair, Eric Johnson. Discussion begins promptly at 7:15pm.

$10 ticket fee includes one complimentary beer. Bravo!

Tix —> https://www.beerculturecenter.org/events/2024/5/21/beerside-chats-from-page-to-stage