Topic Archives: English Strong Ale
Boulevard & Pretty Things Release “Stingo”
The third collaboration from Boulevard Brewing (Kansas City, MO) is brewed with Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project in Somerville, MA. Pretty Things recently took a road trip over the summer and found themselves in Kansas City. The breweries know each other from various beer festivals.
Stingo is the name of the collaboration, a 17th century English beer style. Why stingo? Dann and Martha Paquette of Pretty Things have a connection to England. Dann brewed in England for years, and Martha was born in Yorkshire. Great idea honestly. So how did it turn out? Boulevard brewmaster Steven Pauwels describes Stingo as:
…bold and full-bodied, with a big malty nose, hints of dark malt, chocolate, licorice, and black fruits, and just the right amount of tartness in the finish. It pairs exceptionally well with wild game, smoked meats, strong cheeses, and heavily seasoned dishes.
Stingo joins Boulevard’s Smokestack Series
Style: English Strong Ale
Availability: 750 ml Bottles, corked & caged. Draft. One time release.
Distribution: Through Boulevard
8.5% ABV
Previous Boulevard Collaborations:
1: Imperial Pilsner with Orval brewmaster Jean-Marie Rock
2. White I.P.A. with Deschutes Brewery
Boulevard & Pretty Things Create Collab #3 “Stingo”
Remember back in April when Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project went on a road trip? They stopped in Kansas City, Missouri to brew with Boulevard. The group created the 3rd installment of Boulevard’s Smokestack Collaboration Series. Pretty Things is a bit like Mikkeller, Evil Twin, & Stillwater as they don’t have a physical brewery. Their gypsy brewers, that create tasty is various places around the U.S. The above is a prime example.
So what is it?
They created an English style ale called “Stingo.” Stingo is a strong ale originating the northern England. It’s a pretty old style too. You’ll find literature references to it before 1700. They are oak aged (usually more than a year) before arriving in your glass. Stingo is said to “sting” the palate, thus the name was born.
Boulevard brewmaster, Steven Pauwels joins Dann and Martha Paquette of Pretty Things for this collab. Expect woody flavors mixed with fruit and complex malts.
Style: English Style Strong Ale
Availability: 750 ml bottles, Corked & Caged. Draft
Arrival: TBA
8.5% ABV
Read More: Boulevard Brewing
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 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.
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
