Samuel Smith Underwhelming

How am I the first person here to mention Yorkshire Stingo? That beer is delicious. As a rule, I enjoy Samuel Smith beers a lot.

 

World class for the style...gateway beers are cheap and available everywhere....that would be New Belgium products all the way...multi-styles at a great price...that's what a gateway beer is all about....Samuel Smith is history.

 

I've tried a couple and their beers and they're great. I don't buy them much though, $4 a bottle is too steep.

 

They usually leave me pretty well whelmed, I think the majority of their beers are at least 7/10 or better.

Is Taddy Porter an existential experience? Not really, but is it an excellent example of the style that is exactly the same every time I drink it? Yes.

 

I like the India Pale Ale. But $5 a bottle is a bit steep for what it is.

 

The fact that they are over 60$ per case used to make them a real splurge here in PA, but they are definitely solid beers. With the explosion of craft i can get much better for much cheaper now, but that wasn't always the case. Love the oatmeal stout and winter warmer.

 

I respect that as your opinion but a gateway to craft beer is in no way benchmark for the style....the person getting into craft beer has no idea what to expect with each style and wouldn't know good from bad until time and tasting take over.

 

I think some beer drinkers in the U.S. have gotten used to the big (sometimes overzealous) flavors found in certain IPA's and stouts. Not that these beers are not good, but there is something to be said for the art of making subtle, mellow, mild tasting styles as well. Both sides of the pendulum are important and create a certain dialectical relationship. Samuel Smith's beers are, in my opinion, deeply underrated by many beer drinkers in the U.S. The same can be said for most British breweries/beers. Traditional English bitters, IPA's (which are usually better balanced and often more satisfying than U.S. IPA's), stouts, porters, pale ales, and brown ales all -- usually -- fall into the more subtle, mild end of the spectrum of flavor. Obviously, most British barley wines, old ales, and Imperial Stouts will be closer to the bold flavors (and high alcoholic content) that some folks seem to gravitate towards these days in the States. All can be great and should be respected. Samuel Smith is such a treasure because a) they paved the way for so many breweries all over the world; b) all of their beers are well made and are what that style should, at its best, taste like; c) are helping to preserve the beautiful but dying institution known as the neighborhood pub.

 

I;m with you on that. The fact that some British brews aren't as robust as their American counterparts is one of the things that makes these beers great (and often a welcome relief). After all, American culture (an oxymoron if ever there was one) does tend to assimilate things and inevitably ramp them up and 'supersize' them. And it's not always a good thing.

There are still a number of British brews I continue to choose over some locally made things when I'm at a bar with a good draft range. I do take a lot of heat for it, but sometimes the locally made stuff is just plain crap.

Tastes change and certainly vary...but I guess I'm just one of the remaining dinosaurs that still thinks that truly great beer is all about balance, even if it is an "extreme" style.

 

Nut Brown is very good. I was a bit unimpressed with their Imperial Stout. Maybe I'm too used to the amp'd up American versions to appreciate what it was originally like in the UK.

 

Maybe drinking culture plays into it as well. These beers should be consumed a few at once, maybe four or five sips per glass, and they grow on you as you continue. They just won't show as well during a sampling, or even a bottle at a time.

 

I really enjoyed the Oatmeal Stout, definitely a benchmark for the style. For me the best imperial stout I've had brewed in England is Courage, though.

 

Well said by you and @LuskusDelph.

Unfortunately, American brewers either don't or can't brew good English-style ales. Brooklyn does a solid job, and depending on how you want to define the parameters of the Russian imperial stout, several of our U.S. brewers make some good RISs. But I've not found an American-made English pale ale half as good as Fuller's London Pride or SS's Old Brewery.

As for the oatmeal stout, Firestone Walker's Velvet Merlin is fantastic IMO. It might be better than SS's.

I've heard several aficionados of the good English ale say Samuel Smith beer sucks compared to other British beer. I'm sure they're not part of a major conspiracy against SS and they mean what they say, but I've tried *EVERY* English import I can find in Texas ... or damn near ... and Samuel Smith's stuff is always as good and often better. Fuller's makes great stuff, and back in the 1990s when I could get a lot of Young's pale ale stuff (Ram Rod, Special London Ale), I thought Young's beer was fantastic.

My point: If there's a better English pale ale than SSOBPA within easy driving distance of my home, *please*, point me in its direction. I'll gladly try it.

 

I'd ask how old? The turnover might not be so great and it's very likely it's older stock. I haven't had one in years, but I used to drink quite a bit of Fullers, Batemans, and Samuel Smith,,always loved each and every one.

 

Hmph. Everyone is untitled to their opinion but when there were literally enough options to count on one hand, maybe two, good ol' Sammy Smith was there to pick up the pieces. Their darker beers were my favorites in college, well worth what I thought was expensive, back then.
You can go into any average beer distributor and have over 100 options now, it's like shooting fish in a barrel. Back, 15 years ago, if you went into a distro and had more than 20 good options...chances are you were in a great store for imports. It's so easy now.

I think Sammy Smith still holds up, but, with all the other options out there now, is it really gonna blow your doors off? Probably not. Not to mention SS beers average an abv in the mid-4s to mid-6% range which doesn't really "do it" for a lot of people anymore.

 

I think the English folks are looking at the cask ales for the most part, while we are looking at the bottled beer- two different products.

As to American versions of English Pale Ales, once upon a time New England had many local brewpubs and micros that leaned in that direction (the Pugsley/Ringwood startups), but aside from Geary's I can't think of one that has had much of an impact. Yards in Philadelphia does some very nice English styles, but their Pale Ale leans American in style. Honestly, my go-to English Pale Ale comes from Samuel Adams these days.

 

Bateman's XXXB and Victory Ale were da bomb!

 

Organic Apricot Ale..........I buy 4 or 5 of these a year. Price has gone up over $1.50 a bottle the last year. Its a great beer in my opinion and I am not a fruit beer person but love Apricot.

Any suggestions on other great Apricot beers that are not sours?

Enjoy

 

Their Oatmeal Stout is one of my go-to staples.

I also like their hard cider.

 

I've only ever had two examples (Oatmeal Stout & Imperial Stout), and both were very disappointing. The Oatmeal stout tasted quite bland and average, whilst the Imperial Stout was musty and thin. Admittedly, the Imperial Stout was close to it's best-by, but out of any style, that one should have at least held up reasonably well.

I'll still hold back on any real judgement until I can have some fresher examples.