Samuel Smith: Great Brewery or the Greatest Brewery?

Beer and Spirits
1

Samuel Smith: Great Brewery or the Greatest

  • Great Brewery
  • The Greatest Brewery
  • Never, because they do not make an over hopped American “IPA”
  • Flawed poll

0 voters

The more I try beers from this outfit the more I am impressed with their skillz. They all seem to display balance and an even character across the palate. Even the IPA though it was more hoppy than I prefer showed an evenness of body that helped carry the hops well that I find so often lacking in other IPA’s.

I plan on trying the rest of the lineup as I can find them. I will even try those that are infused with fruit out of respect for their craft and a curiosity for how they may make something like that interesting.

How do they rate with you?

2

Their Nut Brown is Deee Lish

3

Samuel Smith is possibly my favorite English brewery. Their porter is the best porter I’ve had; same with their oatmeal stout. Beyond those two, I appreciate their beers more than I like them.

4

Love me some Nut Brown Ale. The Taddy Porter and Oatmeal Stout are up there as well.

5

I guess I need to pick some up. Never tried them.

6

I respect them more than I like them. i think that they are all well made, but I almost never buy it (except for Winter Welcome which I’ll get a few bottles of each year)
British beers in general are not my favorites. However, you can’t deny that they make very good beers.

7

I’ve been drinking beer for decades and I never get tired of drinking Sam Smith’s. Is is the greatest? I don’t know, but it has to be near the top.

8

I love the Oatmeal Stout.
And everything else, too.
Great Beers. Perhaps the best. Yes.

9

Love the Sammy. Greatest? No. But great, yes.

10

[shock.gif]

I find this shocking from you. I can’t stop trying them now.

11

I like SS fine but the best brewery is in Belgium (although no one can decide which one it is…).

12

HUH?!?!?!?!?! [shock.gif]

It’s NOT this one?

Ok, who are you and where did you hide Roberto’s corpse?

13

Brahma isn’t even the best industrial lager in Brasil.

These are pretty good:

14

Oh, there was a beer in my image? Sorry, didn’t even notice. [highfive.gif]

15

Sam Smith’s is a good contender, a large number of fantastic beers. Nut Brown, Lager, Ale, IPA, Porter and Stout are all excellent. Haven’t experimented beyond that.

For an across the lineup brewery of beers that I buy and drink regularly, Sam Smiths and North Coast are the best I’ve found, and I’d have to say I prefer Sam Smiths.

But as others have mentioned, favorite and/or best lineup is not the same as best. There’s a lot of Belgian competition there.

16

Cris has got me thinking a lot about Sam Smith after the Ales he brought to the poker event last weekend and after having the porter during porter week.

Everything I have had from them thus far has been pretty impressive, so I decided to try a few more of their repertoire. I am an IPA guy (including the English IPA’s like Meantime, not just the big American ones [tease.gif] ) so I picked up the India Ale and the Organically Produced Lager. Looking forward to them!

17

On of the worst beers I have ever tasted. I only tried a few other beers down there before jumping to wine and spirits only.

I like Sam.

Jason

18

So I got into the IPA and Lager last night. Two words always keep coming back to mind when I drink any Sam beer: Smooth, Balanced. If nothing else these guys sure to seem to respect their ingredients and take care in everything they do. Here are a few notes for these beers:

Golden amber/brown in color with very little head. The nose showed a lot of smoky caramel and malt with some lemon and pine from the hops hanging around in the background. It has a creamy texture with nutty, malty and smoky flavors up front transitioning to sweet, floral hops out of the finish. The flavor profile strikes me more like an Imperial IPA would show, without all that overwhelming, kick you in the teeth hoppiness. At first, I thought it was missing something, but as it came up to probably 55 degrees or so, everything balanced out and it was next to perfect.

Pale golden yellow in color with sweet, fruity, and slightly citrusy aromatics that really reminded me of a pilsner. There was just a touch of sweet spices in the background as well. This is nothing if not light and very refreshing. It has nice round, soft golden malt flavors, a touch of white fruits, and the slightest bit of bitter hop out of the somewhat brief finish. Totally easy to drink and flavorful, but I feel like you can get something similar for a little cheaper (Napa Smith Pilsner comes to mind).

Now I can’t wait for the fall and winter when I feel more comfortable drinking porter and stout. flirtysmile

19

Thanks for the notes Jeremy. I identified the lager as the next to try.

20

I love the Samuel Smith ales - but they might not even be the best brewer in Yorkshire - John Smith Brewery is also world class and a bit more old world than Sammy - The John Smith Original Bitter is one of the greatest ESB’s I’ve ever tasted -

To me the top beer in the Sam Smith catalog is their amazing Pale Ale - a huge step up from the norm - even by British standards -