Chicagoist's Beer Of The Week: Tyranena's The Devil Made Me Do It

By Jason Baldacci in Food on Jan 23, 2015 9:45PM

This week, we're taking a look at one of our favorite winter seasonals to come out of Wisconsin.

The Devil Made Me Do It is an Imperial Oatmeal Coffee Porter that comes to us from Tyranena Brewing Co. of Lake Mills, Wisconsin. Part of their Brewers Gone Wild Series, it pours a very dark brown color in the glass, with the coffee notes dominating the aroma along with a hint of vanilla. On the palate this one is wonderfully soft, especially for the strength of the beer. The velvety texture, thanks to the oats in the grain bill, gives way to a little malty sweetness and subtle notes of nutmeg and allspice. The coffee lays in on the backend with a pop of roasty bitterness that makes for a pretty elegant finish. At 7.5 percent alcohol content, The Devil Made Me Do It is dangerously smooth, seductive and downright delicious.

It's tempting to pair a beer like this with dessert and we're not going to lie, it's going to be fantastic after any meal. We do, however, like to remind people that you can always get creative with your pairings and find surprising ways to treat a beer like The Devil Made Me Do It. The malty sweetness and the bitterness from the coffee would play wonderfully off of a dry rubbed brisket or even ribs. A rack of lamb? Forget about it, even if they're served with a mint jelly. We would also be really interested in seeing what this beer could do against Moroccan spices, because a certain style of tagine would stand to be fantastic in this case.

The Devil Made Me Do It is available on draft and in 12-ounce bottles, check beermenus.com to see where you can find some today.