Chicagoist's Beer Of The Week: Tallgrass Brewing's Buffalo Sweat

By Jason Baldacci in Food on Nov 21, 2014 10:35PM

This week, we're taking a look at a wonderfully drinkable dark beer that we could tip back all winter long.

Buffalo Sweat is an Oatmeal Cream Stout from the Tallgrass Brewing Co. of Manhattan, Kansas. It pours a deep brown color in the glass, with frothy cappuccino-like tan foam that sits gently on top. We pick up roasty tones on the aroma, along with a hint of marshmallow. On the palate, those heavily roasted malts pop right up front with a touch of bitterness, but the oatmeal in the grain bill kicks in quickly to soften the whole thing up a little bit. By the mid-palate, we're met with a controlled dose of sweetness from the lactose sugar the brewers use, which helps to keep the body creamy and rich without driving the alcohol content up too much, since lactose sugar is unfermentable. At 5% alcohol content, Buffalo Sweat is an easy drinking dark beer that's still packed with flavor.

When pairing a beer like this with food, most people's instinct is to look to the dessert course. That's not a bad way to go, either, since an Oatmeal Cream Stout would be wonderful with all kinds of things from chocolate to apple pie, but the complexity of Buffalo Sweat opens up a lot of other doors as well. We could see this going very well with BBQ, especially if it was a little spicy, but it would do just as well with poultry. You might even do yourself and your loved ones a favor if you showed up to Thanksgiving with this one, as the sweetness in the beer would play off of the saltiness in gravy, as well as things like sweet potatoes and stuffing.

Buffalo Sweat is available on draft and in 16 oz cans all over the city. Check beermenus.com to find some this weekend.