Offset Bier stands out as a new brewery in Park City

While thinking of a name for his new microbrewery in Park City, Conor Brown knew he wanted something that told a story in a creative way.

“The word ‘offset’ stuck with me, because I think our place is a little different,” Brown said. “And what we do in regards to our logo and design is askew from the normal. From a consumer standpoint, we want to get people into the door to experience something new, different and unique.”

The aesthetic is evident when people take a gander at the tap list while visiting Offset Bier, which opened Sept. 10 at 1755 Bonanza Drive.

“On one side, we have what we call the one-offs, which are the more experimental, modern and hop-focused beers,” said Brown, who co-owns the brewery with Patrick Bourque.

Those brews include four L IPAs and a fruited quick sour.

“We love hops and know they are a great way to create flavor, aroma and make a difference in beers,” Brown said.

In addition to the one-offs, Offset also offers a more traditional set of beers, according to Brown.

“These are the beers that brewers are usually excited to make, because the simplest are oftentimes the hardest ones to make,” he said. “They are more European-lager focused. They don’t have creative names, and these are the ones you can’t cover up. They allow us to show our craftsmanship, while the others allow us to show off our creativity.”

That list includes a pale ale and a weis kolsch, Brown said.

“The kolsch is our traditional, young and unfiltered beer that a lot of people have been stoked about,” he said.

Brown had been thinking of opening his own brewery for a while.

“It started as a pipe dream, and about four years ago, I started to try to find a way to make it happen,” he said.

The stars aligned when a friend offered Brown a deal on some brewing equipment.

“That’s when I felt it was time to pull the trigger,” he said. “I knew it was never going to be easy and there will never be a perfect time to do this. So in the middle of the global pandemic, I decided to start a capital-intensive small business. And here we are.”

Brown began looking for a space a year and a half ago, and he knew he wanted to set something for local beer lovers to visit and enjoy a drink in the Iron Horse area.

“This is kind of where I felt the business needed to be,” he said. “I wanted to be in town, but I wanted to have a funky and unique spot. So, when I looked at the other smaller, artisanal businesses in this complex, things just felt right.”

For his part, Bourque has a history in the brewing industry. And when he met Brown two years ago, they discovered they shared a mutual passion.

“At that time I was a brewer for another brewery, and over the next couple of years, we would get together and talk about nothing but beer,” Bourque said. “It was never solidified that I would join up with Conor to do this, because I was following a completely new path with some other companies that were setting up breweries around Utah.”

Bourque changed his trajectory when he realized opening Offset Bier with Brown would give him more creative freedom.

“That led to more conversations between the two of us, and I jumped on board in April,” Bourque said.

The two wasted no time coming up with a menu, according to Brown.

“We were very much on the same page right off the bat, because we shared an ethos and interest in similar beers,” he said.

“There was definitely some test batching for sure,” Bourque said. “But a lot of what we do can be changed on the fly, because we understand how the hops work. So a lot of the hoppy beers were made by shooting from the hip, and just relying on what we knew from years of brewing experience.”

The small brewery setting also fed the creativity needed to create some interesting beers, Brown said.

“We can be nimble, because we have small fermenters that allow us to do experimental things that speed up the learning curve regarding the hops, malts or yeasts,” he said.

If something worked well in the small fermentors, Bourque and Brown could easily upscale the product for the big fermenters, Bourque said.

Offset Bier also serves as the continuation of Brown and Bourque’s love for craft beers.

“I started as a home brewer, and I’ve never wanted to pursue any kind of knowledge as much as I have with brewing,” Brown said. “It’s something I look forward to doing, and once I got into it, it was all or nothing.”

Like Brown, Bourque was a home brewer, and he had seen the popularity of artisan beers rise over the years.

“At first it was all imports, and then the craft really started taking off when I came of drinking age,” he said. “After eight years of home brewing, I took the leap and dived into the professional side of things. And now I’m ready to be part of this to make our own dream come true.”

Although Offset Bier is a fledgling company, Brown has made some plans that extend beyond the hops.

“I feel we also have a social responsibility aspect to the business that offsets the negative aspects of beer,” he said. “So we would like to start up some weekly activities like organizing bike rides, runs or skiing activities to promote physical activity.”

Brown also wants to work with and host fundraisers for the many local nonprofits in the greater Park City area.

“I would love to host experimental beer tastings and donate the proceeds to the nonprofits that help facilitate all the outdoor experiences we have here,” he said. “We not only want to be a great spot for people to come and enjoy a beer with friends after a bike ride, we also want to do as much as we can to give back to the local community.”