Thursday, November 18, 2010

Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome Ale

I've been thinking about beer blogging for a while.  With third year law school finals approaching and time running short now seemed like an appropriate time to procrastinate.  To be upfront I don't like America's stereotypical beer.  Bland, boring, and low quality beers like Budweiser and Coors didn't dominate what people thought beer was until regional brewers got bought up and put out of business in the 1950s.  Quality beer is like wine in the sense that color, smell, taste, flavor, etc all play a part in the experience.

For my first review I chose Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome Ale from Tadcaster, England.  It claims to be "Yorkshire's oldest brewery."  Where is this Yorkshire place?  Yorkshire is in northern England and is the largest county in the UK.  It's the home of Captain James Cook, Def Leppard, Scary Spice, and Joe Cocker among others.  Samuel Smith's Brewery was founded in 1758.  Today it still uses oak casks and gets its water from the original well.

Winter Welcome Ale is a seasonal brew with 6.0% alcohol and brewed with Fuggle and Golding hops.  It's copper in color and has a smooth malty flavor with a light aftertaste.  This beer reminded me of a marzen because of its slight sweetness.  It goes down easy and is filling like a winter beer should be.  At $4 for 550ml bottle its at a good price for a beer that traveled half way across the world.  It's good and definitely worth trying but its not something I would drink everyday because its not as hoppy as my favorite beers.  Check it out.  Cheers!

3 comments:

  1. Two Adelphos with a beer blog. Awesome. Loved the background and history in your review. Sammy S. Is a great gateway beer for many a future craft beer convert. How often are you going to review? I'd love to know what you think of Alesmith's Yulesmith Ale. Or maybe The Bruery's Three French Hens.

    Jared

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  2. Not sure how often I can do reviews; as often as I can get around to it. I'll have to check those beers out. I feel bad living in Orange County for so long and never have been to the Bruery. They just opened a store in the Circle so now I really need to check them out.

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  3. James,
    I love this idea for a blog. I hope you don't get too busy with law school and can post frequently. Have you read "Travels with Barley"? It was a pretty light-hearted read about a guy looking for the perfect beer joint along the Mississippi. Look forward to your next post.

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