In late September, two days before the first inspection for Mousetrap, the new taproom from Off Color Brewing, water is leaking from one of the five enormous casks that occupy nearly an entire room at the front of the building. The 15-year-old former Barolo wine barrels, known as foeders, recently made the long journey here from an Italian wine cellar and need to be hydrated and checked for leaks. The one that’s dribbling water onto the ground has an improperly seated gasket that will need to be fixed; another, currently sitting empty, has cracks between the wooden staves big enough that you can see light through them if you stick your head inside the barrel. “That [one] was worse than it is now,” says John Laffler, cofounder and head brewer of Off Color. “At some point it takes some strategic whacking with a mallet.”
It’s this type of experimental brewing that Laffler is looking forward to exploring more when Mousetrap opens. As Off Color’s production has grown, it’s been increasingly difficult to fit in new beers. “We couldn’t do the fun projects anymore,” Laffler says. “They just threw a monkey wrench in the whole schedule.” While the brewers know the timing of their regular beers and can usually have them out of the tank within three weeks, wild beers are unpredictable and can take three months or more. At Mousetrap there will be more flexibility. “Here, we have a whole facility designed to make the small-batch stuff,” Laffler says.
Ben Fasman (Big Star, Dove’s Luncheonette, Estereo), who’s running the taproom, is developing four cocktails and choosing a few wines to offer by the glass. “Mostly biodynamic, funkier stuff that complements what we’re doing here—two reds, one white, one rosé, one bubbles,” Laffler says. Of course, the focus is beer, available from 16 draft lines: 12 Off Color beers and four guest taps. “One will probably be a Three Floyds line, because they’ve always been supergood to us.” In addition, four cask lines will pour cider, sake, coffee, and cocktails.
1460 N Kingsbury 312-929-2916 offcolorbrewing.com
