Beer of the Weekend #358: Buffalo Sweat

Ahh — air conditioning.

I hope everyone is having a fun and cool Memorial Day weekend. The heat was pretty brutal today — for May. I even turned the AC on at the apartment.

Though I love stout, it would be my last choice for beer on a day like this. However, I have been eager to drink the can of dark goodness Hotek gave Mervgotti last weekend while camping. With the fans circulating the cool air from our wall unit in the living room, I think it is time.

The beer tonight is Buffalo Sweat, brewed by the Tallgrass Brewing Company of Manhattan, Kansas.


I believe this is my very first Kansas beer. Hooray for brewing in the Sunflower State!

Serving type: 16-ounce can. No freshness date.

Appearance: Poured into a nonic pint class. The color is an almost-opaque black; a little light passed through when I held the glass to a lamp. A straight pour (bad choice on my part) yielded a ton of thick, buttery, tan head that dissipated very slowly. I had to stop mid-pour to let it settle.

Smell: Pretty much what I expected, but it does have a little funkiness to it (hopefully not due to the namesake). Lots of roasted malts offer a nice roasted bitterness reminiscent of coffee. There are scents of dark chocolate and lighter cocoa (much like milk chocolate). I really cannot pin down the funkiness. For some reason, though, it makes me think of buffaloes. Don’t ask me why.

Taste: The mouthfeel is smooth and creamy; it becomes lighter as the beer warms. Compared to the aroma, the roasted bitterness has been taken down a couple notches; it is much more balanced. Roasted malts impart a nice coffee flavor. Dark chocolate, a little lacto, molasses, and toasted sugar. Each sip leaves a light bitterness that tempts another sip.

Drinkability: It is pretty decent stuff. It is not overly bold and has everything going for it.

Fun facts about Buffalo Sweat:

-Style: “Oatmeal Cream Stout” is printed on the can, but BA classifies it as “Milk/Sweet Stout.”

-Price: I have no clue, but it is sold at John’s in the beer room’s nifty new can rack. (The recent trend toward canned craft brews boggles my mind, but that is another subject.)

-Serving temperature: 50-55ºF.

-Alcohol content: 5 percent ABV.

-Food pairings: BA recommends chocolate.

-IBU: 20.

-Nerdiness from the Tallgrass website:

We love this beer here at the brewery, and think you will have one of those “I’ve never-tasted-a-beer-like-that” kind of moments when you try it!

What we really like about this beer is the smoothness that brewing with cream sugar brings to the palate. This smoothness balances out the copious quantities of roasted barley used in the brewing process to create a rich, complex, and delicious beer. If you have not been a stout drinker in the past, give this beer a try. It might just change your mind about how dark beers should taste. It tastes so rich, but is surprisingly easy to drink!

The Quiet Man’s grade: B.

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