I drank this lovely brew last night and am finally able to post something about it. What can I say, I loved it when it was in the bottle. The brownish red color shone through the transparent bottle and screamed drink me. So, I listened. I poured my beer into a Samuel Smith’s pint glass, that came with a set of four beers (I suggest you try the set of four some time). This Pale Ale is the quintessential example of the style. It was very effervescent, which made it form a lovely off white foam and released the wonderfully malty sweetness. There was even a suggestion of a wood smell. Along with the smell of wood and malt, there was a noticeable fruity aroma to the beer.  Floral (hop) aspects were receded far to the background of this beer.

Next I tasted the beer. It had a rich, and somewhat dry, malty flavor. There was also a distinctly nutty note on the pallet. Actually, this is why British brewers love to use Pale Ale malts ( to give a nutty note). Along with the dryness given by the malts, there was a long grainy finish to the brew. This was complimented well by the fruity (almost cherryish) hints found in the beer. In addition to both of these qualities I noted a slight woodiness to this Pale Ale. The late Michael Jackson also pointed out that the beer had some buttery flavors, which I didn’t really notice. Either way, this is a very nice beer and I would recommend trying it. Cheers!

I almost forgot to mention something that I thought was particularly cool.  Samuel Smith’s uses stone vessels for brewing their beer.  In an age where everthing is automated and steel, they still hand mash and use stone vessels for some of their beers (there is a little more to the stone than just tradition, but we’ll leave that for another time).