Tag: Samuel Smith

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Christmas Beer Review – Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome

It does feel like Christmas when the Christmas beers from foreign shores show up on shelves and one that I haven’t had in awhile is the Samuel Smith Winter Warmer.

This Shakespeare labeled beer pours a bubbly light amber color. Very British from the first wafts of the aroma to the first sip. For a beer low in ABV it is surprisingly a bit warming too.  I am also getting a small touch of metallic note here.  More dominant are notes pear and a bit of spice. Earthy with a good amount of hop bitterness. 

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Holiday Ale # 15 – Winter Welcome from Samuel Smith

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The middle picture on this British Winter Warmer changes each year but I like the Willie Shakespeare version the best.  The weird pursed lips speak to me for some weird reason.  Samuel Smith describes their seasonal as “a limited edition brewed for the short days and long nights of winter. The full body resulting from fermentation in ‘stone Yorkshire squares’ and the luxurious malt character, which will appeal to a broad range of drinkers, is balanced against whole-dried Fuggle and Golding hops with nuances and complexities that should be contemplated before an open fire.”

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Review – Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout

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I have passed by this beer many times and picked up others from the shelves but recently, I picked this and the Old Brewery Pale Ale up to make my ‘fridge more British.

Here is what Samuel Smith of Tadcaster says about this beer, “Brewed with well water (the original well, sunk in 1758, is still in use with the hard water is drawn from 85 feet underground), the gently roasted organic chocolate malt and organic cocoa impart a delicious, smooth and creamy character, with inviting deep flavours and a delightful finish – this is the perfect marriage of satisfying stout and luxurious chocolate.”
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It pours a garnet brown with a tan head that fades really quickly. For a relatively low alcohol content of 5.0% abv it leaves some legs on the glass. A cocoa powder / milk chocolate aroma is pervasive. Every time I sniff, it comes across strong without overpowering the senses.

And that chocolate note is the first off the block when you take a sip. It lingers for a bit but then is followed by some coconut (almost Mounds candy bar). That initial two flavors are then quickly subsumed into a cloying sweetness that is then followed by a bitter metallic note. I am glad that it is complex with such a disparate set of flavors but I really like the first half and not so much the second.

For that reason, I have to give it a maybe buy. It may well work better with chocolate or vanilla cake where that sweetness can match up and hopefully dissipate a little.

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Sean Suggests for February 2013

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This month’s selections invert my whole light to dark spectrum a bit. Usually, I go by ABV. But this month the medium choice has a higher alcohol than the dark choice. But after tasting all three, the order that I chose works better.

Now get shopping!
February 2013
Just double click and download the PDF to take on your next craft beer run.

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Yorkshire Stingo

Since the beer dinner featured beers from across the pond, here is another notable export that you can find here now.

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“Stingo, traditional strong ale originating in the north of England, is mentioned in literature before 1700. Samuel Smith’s Stingo melds the fine history of this style with the signature elegance of the brewery. Brewed from British malt and multiple hop varieties, Stingo is fermented in open-topped stone “Yorkshire Squares,” with the Samuel Smith ale yeast strain. It is then aged for over a year in oak barrels that previously held cask-conditioned ale, gaining complexity and depth from the wood. Bottle conditioning – bottling the beer with live yeast for carbonation – produces soft conditioning as well as a fruity aroma and finish; it also allows Stingo to age and develop in the bottle for many months.”