Drinking some Buffalo Sweat

Ahh, Buffalo Sweat, how refreshing!

No, not THAT buffalo sweat, THIS Buffalo Sweat...

I drank a bit of this Tallgrass Brewing Co. beverage on our East Coast trip both on tap and out of the 16oz cans!

She pours an insanely opaque shade of dark black (seriously, I'm talking Darth Vader's helmet status.) with a clean, light brown head. You can see both of these qualities for yourself in the picture I posted above, I just really wanted to use that Darth Vader line.

Ahhh, Smooooth. Buffalo Sweat sits fairly light in your mouth considering how rich and creamy the flavor is. I immediately taste a heavy dose of dark, toasty malts accented by the sweetness of lactose, the key ingredient in brewing a Milk Stout.

Basically, Buffalo Sweat has the sweetness of chocolate milk, the roastyness of coffee, and the thin consistency of beer. I'm always a little caught off guard by the thinness of Milk Stouts. There is such an impact of flavor and sweet tongue tingle going on that it's hard to believe this stuff is mostly water!

Unfortunately, Tallgrass's blades do not reach all the way to the West Coast, leaving me destined to go without this most triumphant beverage in my day to day life.

On that note, I'm not really sure why Milk Stouts are so hard to come by in my neighborhood. I've never talked to anyone who openly disliked them. Maybe the smooth, creamy body freaks out bitter hopoholics, or the roasty malt taste annoys crisp pilsner buffs. I just can't figure it out. Port Brewery does a pretty fantastic Milk Stout which is available on draft at Pizza Ports, but unfortunately not in can or bottle form. If you haven't ventured into this realm of darker beer, I fully encourage you to go in search of one. Make sure to report back!

I think it's been long enough...

Well, it's been 6 months since I've posted on this blog. Utter failure. I've decided to continue evolving this thing to make it more enjoyable for me to post on and you to read! I'd like to branch out more from just my tasting notes of craft beers(some of them being hard bottles to come by), and post about beer events, beer news, and my own brewing experiences. All things beer! That's the spirit I've wanted to channel all along, but it takes a bit of refinement. Thanks for hanging on for the ride.

Biggest news first, I got married last weekend! Beth and I finally tied the knot in Richmond VA with 200 of our family and close friends. We used the entire holiday(Memorial Day)weekend to celebrate and entertain out of town guests starting with a large rehearsal dinner on Friday night at Glave Kocen art gallery, catered by Olli's(formerly European Market).

We had some great beers there by the bottle, including a chicory stout that Andy Hannas brewed at my bachelor party on Afton Mountain in April. Here was the line up...

My parents and sister picked these six out after a tasting session with Jason from Ollio's. Lucky bastards! What a great variety though. I think there was something here for everyone, and I'm sure more than a few people got a chance to try some breweries and styles of beer that they hadn't ever tasted before, which is ALWAYS a good thing!

While in Richmond, we made a point to eat and drink at a few restaurants our friends work at, to include Six Burner, Black Sheep, Joe's Inn, Mekong, and Q.

At Six Burner, Beth and I got to try two beers from Southern Tier brewery which is actually located in New York state. We don't get them in San Diego, so it was our first taste of the brewery. On tap, they had the "2xIPA" and "Choklat Stout". Man, the first thing I can say about either of these beers is that they were heavy on the palate. Totally fucking delicious, but definitely not a chugging beer.

Bell's "Oberon" was in heavy rotation almost everywhere we went for a very good reason. Oberon is a crispily hopped wheat ale, quite refreshing in the midday heat of a Virginia summer. I would love to spend an afternoon in a hammock with a mini keg of this stuff.

I could go on and on about Bell's Brewery right now. They're my favorite brewery of the moment, and I think they've been filling in a lot of gaps that Dogfish Head has been leaving out on their recent adventures with intense tasting beers. I'm going out on a limb here, but in my mind Bell's is an East Coast parallel to Sierra Nevada.

More on the trip tomorrow(or possibly Wednesday since I have school tomorrow and Tuesday)