Samuel Smith, The Old Brewery at Tadcaster - 2011-vintage "Winter Welcome" ale

Today's beer is leftover from 2011 - I bought it way back then and never got around to trying it. It's Sam Smith's Winter Welcome ale, which is a 6% ABV ale released in the wintertime by English brewery Samuel Smith.

The Samuel Smith Old Brewery, better known as "Sam Smith," is an old English brewery in Tadcaster, Yorkshire, UK. This brewery has a rather storied history and is very popular in England, with over 200 Sam Smith-branded pubs dotting the country. They've also been using the same strain of yeast since the eighteenth century! Interestingly enough, the brewery uses big slate vats - called "stone Yorkshire squares" - to ferment the beer:

So  I've had a couple of Sam Smith ales, specifically their Taddy Porter and the Nut Brown ale. All have been pretty good, bu I've never had the Winter Warmer, so I'm not even sure what it's like normally! Let's take a look.

It poured nicely, and had a golden copper color. Some good white foam is produced.

The beer threw aroma of sugar, apples, and fresh juice, which is kinda neat and totally unexpected. It's supposed to be an ale, so I was imaging something a little different. The taste as well is a surprise! It has a sour yeasty flavors, not unlike a hard apple cider. It was sugary, carbonated, and had a pleasant crisp finish, followed by a thin aftertaste with some eventual choppy notes a few minutes down the line.

This was another interesting experiment. Since I don't know what it used to taste like, I can't compare, but the cellaring probably didn't do it any favors. I seem to be having bad luck with cellaring lately. But, it was drinkable with interesting flavors and was closer to cider than a traditional ale. It was a neat experiment for sure!