Tallgrass Brewing Company's Buffalo Sweat

Alright--back from another round of illness, but ready to go. I do have some catching up to do, mostly with parks, but while I get started on some of that I'm going to have this beer. I thought it was going to be a brown, but it's a stout, so it's already looking up.

Pours an opaque blackish brown with a better than average dark tan head.

Nice smell. A bit harsh and grainy, with a nice chocolate smell hidden way under there somewhere.

Odd taste. Has all of the above characteristics, plus a mild bitterness, but probably the closest analogy would be that this tastes like a Belgian stout. It has that odd yeast taste of many Belgians that I'm not very fond of. Feels a bit like a milk stout, with that forced smoothness that lactose can give a beer.

This is about par for a Tallgrass beer, not great, but not really that bad either.

Tallgrass Brewing Company's IPA

This one's left over from a Kansas trip last Thanksgiving. I've had beers from this brewery in BOTM shipments, so I had to finish out their others when I saw them.

Pours a foamy and slightly hazy amber with huge carbonation and a huge pillowy tan head.

Great smell. Nice and grassy, slightly sweet malt.

Nice. Body is a little light, but it's spot on otherwise. This is the best Tallgrass beer I've had so far, and it's a very good IPA.

Tallgrass Brewing Company's Kold

I'm a victim of my curiosity sometimes. And my compulsion to try at least one of everything I haven't had before. So even though I have been less than impressed with Tallgrass beers, I had to buy this one. (But only one.)

Pours fairly light yellow, although not as clear as a Budweiser, with strong carbonation and a bright white head that thins but stays.

The label says pilsner malt with notes of honey and citrus, so I labeled it as a pilsner. Smells like a good Czech variety, because it's less malty than a German, and more zippy.

Yep. There's a rough, cardboard bitterness in there somewhere, but it's right on type for a Czech pils. It has the funky bitterness that it needs, and a light body that goes down nicely. I don't know about the citrus, but the honey is there and makes it dry quickly. Kind of tastes like a funky honey wheat.

I like it. It's a decent twist on a pils, and in my opinion their best so far.

Tallgrass Brewing Company's IPA

I have six mixed sixers in the beer cellar made up of beers that I didn't like that are ready to give away. It looks like I may be adding to that with this beer. And yes, I know I shouldn't be washing down these chocolate chip cookies with it, but my experience with this brewery is that it can't hurt.

Pours a clear amber with a tan head that's as big as you want it to be and decent carbonation.

Surprisingly, this one is throwing off a lot of hops in the smell. It's about two feet away from me on the end table (although upwind with the windows open), and I can clearly smell the sweet malt and grassy hops. It has a twangy smell to it that I hope goes away when I get closer. The twang seems like a bit of orange, but it's drowned out by a crisp grassy smell.

Well, the hops are within type, but the malt disappears. It leaves this feeling much more like a twangy pale than an IPA. The feel is just hollow, like Gatorade with a punch.

This one's kind of like a red head. Looks great. Tastes funny.

Tallgrass Brewing Company's Tallgrass Ale

Well, after about three weeks of vacation, to places where there is little or no beer, I'm back and for some reason decided to celebrate in style by reviewing a beer from.... Kansas. One named after grass.

I don't get it either. But it's cold, so here goes. I also haven't had a beer in a month, so it should be interesting to see if my taste buds have reset.

This one pours a loosely filtered coppery brown, with a decent tan head for a brown. It fades to a sheet, but even that's more than many browns, including some of my favorites.

The label says something about a toffee aroma, but I don't smell it. I do smell the standard slightly nutty smell, but also a yeasty sweet bread that leans slightly to the Belgian side.

Ooof. Much nuttier in the taste. It almost punches you, in fact. It fades to a weak yeasty bread similar to the smell, but I still don't taste any toffee. Slight wet tobacco taste to it.

It's big for a brown, especially an English brown. There's something a tad off about it though, like it's been filtered by that red tallgrass that grows in the Flint Hills or something. Leans further toward a Belgian (which I dislike) in both smell and taste as it gets warmer.

Eh, it's Kansas.