Samuel Smiths Old Brewery Pale Ale

Brewed by Samuel Smith
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Tadcaster, England

Pours amber copper w/ full creamy froth. Aromas of a classic pale w/ rustic malt and mellow, wet, hops and honey. Full nectar w/ mellow residuals. Full flavored and dry, malty, crisp, rustic w/ aged hops and biscuits. The finish has a defined bittering leaving a rustic maltiness w/ a hint of fruit. Overall: well balanced, very tasty, I like it alot. Highly recommended.

Poured an orange color with a very nice generous initial head that laced fairly well. The aroma was initially skunk, and I rolled my eyes. It subsided to a somewhat grassy / saaz hops aroma. After running upstairs and taking care of a kid issues, I was greeted with no skunk, light caramel... the skunk had dissipated, imagine that! Finally, I tasted it and was impressed that it wasn’t too bad, on par for the style, but not a style that I love. The flavor was caramel with a nice bittering hop balance, but none of the aromatic US hops to impress the American hop heads. Balanced, nonetheless, nice bitter finish. Mouthfeel was slightly acidic and moderate to light. Not something I’d really return to, but not bad within the style.

A nice pour. A little more red than the Nut Brown Ale. Has a nice off-white head. Somewhat malty with a little hop character. One of the better beers I have tried from England.

jbrus let me taste some of his bottle. Maltaroma. Malty flavor with hops, cookies and even the slightest touch of smoke. Bitter cookie aftertaste. Quite nice.

Bottled. Great Bitter with all the mandatory flavors and more. So why doesn’t get more high rating? I guess it’s the clear bottle that does it. If not kept well this beer might go skunky to soon. Mine was in perfect condition. Aroma is smoked, whiskey malts and even hints of salami (without garlic). Brown/orange color beige creamy head with beautiful lace. Light sweet, smoked, bitter, herbal, very malty and nice balance and complexity. Medium body, dry hoppy finish.

I pretty much agree with Victory (having split the beer and all). Sam Smith’s is a great brewery- this beer may suffer a bit by comparison because I’m too used to their incredible Oatmeal Stout.

The only let down of this beer was the lack of aroma, but smells can be deceiving. This, like most everything else i have tried from sam smith was an excellent beer. It has a rich taste and a wonderful color. As i write this i’m still enjoying the lingering hops.

Bottle. A nice bitter aroma. Typical brown bitter look with thin head that stays. Flavor is a nice mixture of bitterness and maltiness. Goes down smooth and is very drinkable. A nice bitter palate stays on the tongue and goes great with hot food. I had this with thai.