Samuel Smiths Old Brewery Pale Ale

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

Pours amber with a good sized off-whitehead. Taste is mellow, with good sweet maltiness and notes of apples and mild hops. To me, this seemed simple at first and grew on me as the bottle progressed. Very smooth and drinkable. Nice stuff; I would try this one again.

From the 550 ml. bottle no. SH28C1. The pour is a handsome dark amber with adequate clarity and about two fingers of chunky beige head. The head mellows out after a minute. The aroma is rich in roasted malts and caramel and is clearly distinctive in that way. The mouthfeel is good and the texture remains together for a bit. The taste is more of sweetened malts with some light hops in the background and slightly bitter. You rarely get a dud from Samuel Smith’s.

Pours light amber, small off-white head. Strong aroma of smoke. Good malt character; smoky flavors evident. Slightly astringent taste, dry and slightly complicated. I suspect this would be a good beer to drink all night long; in small quantities it is a bit lackluster.

pours an amber with off-white head that is typical of a bitter. nose of caramel and toffee. great level of balance achieved in the flavor. nothing too complex, just good easy drinking beer. very smooth as it goes down. a bit of those wonderful English hops in the finish. well made and very enjoyable.

Amber/Brown color white head citrus aroma sweet malt taste and barely any noticable hop after light for 5% smooth and sessionable

Beer look dark cooper or maybe beer bottle brown and pretty much crystal clear, the two inch cap reduces to about one after a few moments but then lasts for a phenomenally long time, nice looking brew not overly great it just looks nice. Mild hops, some dark woodiness and some noticeable alcohol are in the aroma. The presence of the alcohol is very out of place and surprising given this is only 5%. Aroma is finished off with some caramel and is overall very standard. Beer seems very light flavored and has a noticeable hop presence and a banana after taste, as the brew warms more the flavor does become more bold with more of a roasted malt character emerging. Brew feels way to thin for it doesn’t match the richness of the malts. Nice flavor but seemed a touch old or stale or something, check the best before date and it’s still good this might be due to the clear bottle. I was slightly disappointed in this one don’t really know why and the marks seem way to low, maybe if I was in a better this would have scored higher. On a side note after drinking this beercronic showed up at my place and displayed one of the greatest displays of beer geekdom ever when I answered the door I breathed heavily on him and within three seconds high proclaimed I had just drank a English ale. Now that’s a true beer geek.

This is a very mild brew. Small light tan head and decent orange/brown apperance with better than average lacing. Mild malty nose with some caramel. Very tasty! Caramel, ripe fruit, yummy hops and a background sourness. Soft almost chewable mouthfeel which has good tingle and finishes with a quiet fruity aftertaste. Very smooth. Another excellent, expensive Samuel Smith brew.

550ml bottle pours muddy amber with a thin white wispy head. Good malt aroma with a mild tangy sweetness on the palate. Medium hop bitterness. I think this brewery can do better.