Sam Smith

Sam Smith Yorkshire Stingo, August

Sam Smith’s Yorkshire Stingo arrives for a 2rd year stateside this August.  Stingo is an English Strong Ale aged in oak vats for 1 year.  Read up on the Yorkshire Squares brewing system here.  Each year, the beer is released Continue Reading →

Sam Smith’s Winter Welcome 2010

While you may be perpetually late, for the most part -beer is ahead of schedule.  The winter ales are headed you’re way.  A popular English winter ale just made it’s 2010 visit – Sam Smith’s Winter Welcome.  Sam Smith is based Continue Reading →

Sam Smith Stingo’s 2nd Release

Last year, Sam Smith’s Old Brewery (Yorkshire, England) released “Yorkshire Stingo” an English Strong Ale in the United States.  By the time you saw the bottle last August, it was already a year old.  It is brewed using a very historical brewing system over 200 years old called called “Yorkshire Squares.”  Read on for more history on this technique, and the beer.

Style: English Strong Ale

Availability: 550 ML Capped Bottles.  Limted to less than 2,000 cases.  Released on August 1st  annual on “Yorkshire Day.”

8% ABV

Posted in New Beers, Sam Smith

Sam Smith Org Apricot

Sam Smith Org Apricot

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Sam Smith, Seasonal Return

Sam Smith Yorkshire Stingo, August

Sam Smith Yorkshire Stingo

Sam Smith’s Yorkshire Stingo arrives for a 2rd year stateside this August.  Stingo is an English Strong Ale aged in oak vats for 1 year.  Read up on the Yorkshire Squares brewing system here.  Each year, the beer is released on Yorkshire Day in England, first celebrated in 1975.

Availability: 22oz bottles

9% ABV

Press Release

(Tadcaster, UNITED KINGDOM) — Merchant du Vin and Samuel Smith’s Old Brewery are proud to announce the third U.S. annual release of Samuel Smith’s Yorkshire Stingo.

This barrel-aged, bottle-conditioned strong ale expresses the elegant refinement of every Samuel Smith’s beer, but with depth, length and power found in no other beer. This is a must-try beer: Extreme meets over 250 years of brewing experience. In November 2010, DRAFT Magazine awarded Stingo a perfect 100-point review: “Perfection in a glass.”

Vintage dated, Stingo is available nationally each year on England’s “Yorkshire Day,” August first. Annual releases do vary — this year, Stingo fermented to 8.0% ABV. Production of this fine ale is extremely limited.

A traditional strong ale that originated in the north of England, “Stingo” is mentioned in literature before 1700. Samuel Smith’s Stingo melds the signature elegance of the brewery’s ales with a long historical tradition. Brewed from British malts and multiple hop varieties, Stingo is fermented in open-topped stone Yorkshire Squares, then aged over a year in oak barrels that previously held cask-conditioned ale, gaining subtle complexity from the wood. Some of the barrels at Samuel Smith’s are over a century old — if a cask is damaged, the coopers carefully replace broken staves and put the cask back into service.

Samuel Smith’s Stingo shows rich, superb flavors of toffee, raisin, dried fruit, and caramel; waves of flavor ascend and ebb leaving soft oak notes. Hops add a perfect enhancement to dramatic malt and fermentation flavors, but without pushing bitterness past the point of balance. Bottle conditioning — that is, including live yeast in each bottle — produces soft carbonation, a fruity aroma and finish, and allows Stingo to age and develop in the bottle.

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Sam Smith, Seasonal Return

Sam Smith’s Winter Welcome 2010

While you may be perpetually late, for the most part -beer is ahead of schedule.  The winter ales are headed you’re way.  A popular English winter ale just made it’s 2010 visit – Sam Smith’s Winter Welcome.  Sam Smith is based in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England.  The brewery was established in 1798.

Commercial Description:
Throughout history, beer of somewhat higher alcohol and richness has been enjoyed for the winter holidays, when old friends get together to enjoy the season. Wassail, a festival to celebrate winter and the beer that goes with it, predates the Christian era. Winter Welcome is vintage-dated with a special label each year. Serve in a traditional tankard for the holidays.

Style: Winter Warmer

Taste Expectations: Dark sweet malts – flavors of caramel, toffee & spices.  Perhaps a touch of brown sugar.  Grassy, muted malts.

Food Pairings: Roast goose, smoked turkey with oyster dressing, rack of lamb, candied yams, Smithfield hams, fresh pears and apples, Christmas cake.

Availability: 12oz bottles. 18.7 oz “Victorian Pint” bottles.  Top foiled. Winter seasonal

6% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Sam Smith, Seasonal Return

Sam Smith Stingo’s 2nd Release

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 the 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.

Taste Expectations: raisin, fruit, hints of toffee, and oak.

Food Pairings: Pair with beef, wild game, or demanding deeply-flavored foods like pickled fish or strong aromatic cheeses. Try with lamb, duck, smoked meats, or Kalamata olives

Availability: 550 ML Capped Bottles.  Limted to less than 2,000 cases.  Released on August 1st  annual on “Yorkshire Day.”

8% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
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.

by Reid Ramsay