Posted in New Releases, Sam Smith

Samuel Smith’s Stingo – History and Beer Coming Aug 1st


Interested in history? Beer is full of it. Coming soon to shelves in Atlanta, a little more history for your glass.

Samuel Smith‘s Old Brewery at Tadcaster is the oldest brewery in Yorkshire, England — founded in 1758. To this day it remains the only independent brewery in the area. You have probably seen Sam Smith’s Oatmeal Stout, Imperial Stout, and Winter Welcome Ale. Now, to impart some beer history on you — here is something that makes Sam Smith interesting…

Sam Smith is one of the few English brewers left to employ the traditional Yorkshire Squares brewing system. This system — over 200 years old, requires a lot of attention in order to ferment beer in this method properly. A Yorkshire Squares fermenting system is a square vessel that rises about 2 stories. Cooled wort ( aka liquid extracted from grains and water that will be used to ferment into BEER!) is placed in the lower chamber of this square, while the yeast filled head settles in the upper chamber. The yeast will rise to the top deck, and remains there when the beer below is drained off.
The beer isn’t drinkable from here — it’s still harsh. The remaining yeast will be allowed to ferment into alcohol, flavoring the beer a bit more. From this stage it is casked — thus the reference on the label to these English labels called “Cask Conditioned.” In the end, it takes about 6 days from start to cask.

Relevance?

Yorkshire Stingo is brewed using this historical technique. Furthermore, Stingo is aged over a year in oak casks that have been used to age th Sam Smith’s ales since the turn of the century. What you will tasting is an ale brewed in a style as old as the United States itself.
Yorkshire Stingo is 8% ABV, and will age very will in the bottle. Descriptions of this ale include raisin, fruit, hints of toffee, and oak. I have had the opportunity to taste Stingo, and I immediately agree with the oak flavors. While I haven’t taste much of this ale yet, there is a lot of depth to this ale. I want another one.

It should be on shelves in Atlanta by August 1. Not sure if you will find them in Brickstore/ Taco Mac/ Porter etc… I would buy 2 if were you. One for now, one for Christmas. Or next July.