DBB – Samuel Smith’s, Winter Welcome Ale
Samuel Smith’s – Winter Welcome Ale
6.0 abv
Samual Smith’s Winter Welcome Ale is the first import thats been reviewed for Drink Better Beer. I was planning to stick with American Microbrews for a while before getting into imports, but in my search for winter beers I ended up picking one up.
Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome Ale is a smooth light colored beer. It’s not hoppy, it’s not full of winter spices, but it is an easy to drink relatively high alcohol beer. I was a little disappointed by this beer, I had high hopes for a Samuel Smith’s winter beer, but I think this could be the perfect winter beer for people who aren’t fans of a lot of hops and spices.
“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.”
With relative short lived american brewing history it’s pretty surprising when you here that Samuel Smith’s brewery has been in business for 250 years.
“The Old Brewery at Tadcaster was founded in 1758 and is Yorkshire’s oldest brewery. Samuel Smith is one of the few remaining independent breweries in England, and further is the last to utilize the classic Yorkshire Square system of fermentation solely in stone squares.
The rich Samuel Smith strain of yeast at The Old Brewery dates from the early 1900s. Hops are hand-weighed by the master hop blender, and the brewing water is drawn from a well sunk over 200 years ago.
First introduced to the U.S. market in 1978 by Merchant du Vin, Samuel Smith beers quickly became the benchmark ales for the emerging craft beer movement. To this day, they remain among the most awarded.”
