Showing posts with label tallgrass brewing company. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tallgrass brewing company. Show all posts

Monday, September 19, 2011

Day 52-56 (9/14 - 9/18/2011): Getting caught up with reviews!

As I said earlier, I really need to get caught up on reviews. I'm going to blow through five days really quick here so I can get back up to date and write some more thorough reviews for you all. Here we go!


A surprisingly tasty milk stout. It's on the sweeter side and is a tad bit thin, but there are a ton of stouts this beats every day of the week. Bonus points for being packaged in a pint can and for being locally available. Not going to blow anyone away, but I wouldn't mind if someone handed me one. B.


They promise hops and that is certainly what you get. I didn't particularly care for this at all, but I think my bottle was old. Bitter and astringent; the hops don't particularly taste good and doesn't transition into the malt finish well. It overall was a trainwreck of flavors in my mouth. I'll try again when I can be assured of a fresh bottle. C-.


Somehow my first ever pumpkin ale and I picked a good one. I even had an appropriate glass for it. Poured the most ridiculous head I've ever seen. It was as close to stiff whipped cream as you could imagine. I actually had to take it off with a spoon so I could drink the beer. The typical pumpkin spice scent and taste is there, but it's not obnoxious and is countered well with a good hop presence. A very good beer and if all pumpkin beers I get to try are this good, I'll be disappointed I took this long to try them. B+.

(Also, I had a Founders Breakfast Stout this night and it is my belief that it is much better from a bottle than draft. Coffee in a beer!)


A solid barleywine. It nails the style points, but doesn't really do much creative to put it among the upper tier. A good balance of sweet caramel malt and citrus hops work together to make this barley wine American. Some maple syrup and vanilla flavor is also there. Perhaps the most amazing thing is that though Old Horizontal is 11%, the alcohol is hidden masterfully. I'd love to hang onto a few bottles and see how it tastes after the hops fade a bit. B+.


This was a nice, balanced stout. Not too sweet, not too much roast. Gets better and better as it warms up. I enjoyed this much more than Deschute's Black Butte Porter. It's not going to blow your mind, but sometimes beer is just for drinking, not ruminating over for hours. I wish I could get this here. A-.

There we go, folks. All back up to date. Hopefully things will calm down a tad and I can get back to daily updates. Can't promise, but it's worth a shot!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Day 37 (8/30/2011) Tallgrass Oasis by Tallgrass Brewing Company

(Excuse the blurriness. Not entirely sure what happened there.)

Oasis is a beer with an identity crisis. Not that this is necessarily bad or anything. It just makes it difficult to rate. Tallgrass admits this, calling the beer a double IPA/ESB. Since I'm not entirely sure what a characteristics a double ESB would have, so I decided to review it as a double IPA.

It pours a dark amber, definitely darker than most double IPAs, with a voluminous off-white head. Had to let it settle down a bit before I topped off the glass. It has a good citrus hop odor, but is balanced well with a substantial earthy caramel maltiness. The taste follows the nose, a good balance of hop bitterness and malt sweetness. It's not particularly complex and isn't going to blow anyone away, but it is tasty. Medium carbonation and body; nothing too surprising here.

I give Tallgrass Oasis by Tallgrass Brewing Company a solid B. I'm not sure what this beer is, but it is good. I'm not sure I would pick up a six pack over the alternatives, but if the price is right I would at least consider it. It's balanced and unoffensive and therefore is not going to change anyone's worldviews on beer, but sometimes you just want something you can put back without giving it a lot of thought.




Style: Double ESB/IPA
ABV: 7.2%
IBU: 93
Beer Advocate: B+
Ratebeer: 93/99

Received from a generous Beer Advocate from Kansas City. I believe this is available in Ohio.