Beer Beer Beer

Do you have Samuel Smith's beers on the shelves in the UK or are they just exported to the US? Their beers are quite good and I feel like they have a very consistent quality. I picked up an Organic Cider yesterday because I had never tried that one, and I'm not usually a fan of cider. Most of the ones I've had in the past have been too sweet or too heavy or too high in alcohol content or just nasty (Woodchuck cider comes to mind). I was quite impressed with the Samuel Smith's Cider and I'll pick up a few more next time I'm in the specialty beer shop. I also like the Nut Brown Ale, the IPA, the Organic Lager, the Tadcaster Porter and the Oatmeal Stout.

I also picked up a Speckled Hen "Hen's Tooth" which I haven't tried yet. Maybe I'll have it for lunch today.

Oh sam smiths! beautiful.
Whenever i head up to middlesboro, or york i have to savour the fine taste of their pure brewed lager. absolutely lovely and kicks the nuts out that uniquely belgian beer (brewed in england) stella acid tasting shXt.
sadly like you i have trouble in finding beverage houses that supply it, i cant get it here in essex, but you can get it off the net i believe, (my nearest sam smiths local is in london, 42 miles away, and at london prices)..
good luck!

I used to live about 10miles from Tadcaster. I've driven past the brewery a few times. You can see it from the A64 on your way to Leeds from York.

if you can find it, try getting hold of some Black Sheep ales - the best bitter is the milder form, going up to rigwelter which is quite strong, but just as tasty

I can see an honorary Yorkshire man in the making here

Enjoy

Catmint

I have had the Black Sheep ales, but the one I like the best (for obvious reasons) iS this one

Brain SA Gold, Bishops Finger, Speckled Hen, Independance (from Bristol), Gower Gold. Theakstons Old Peculier, Hob Goblin, the list goes on and on ....hic ! but all good.

Wow! This is an old post. It's interesting to see how much my beer tastes have changed in 10 years. I'm now pretty much all in to the craft beers here in the US. Especially IPAs. Lots of really good beers from small breweries here on the east coast. Welcome back to the forum by the way, Bracpan. Good to see you are still at it.

My local pub is a Sam Smiths house. Cheapest beer in the area! 400 yard walk.

I have a taste for Belgian beers now though, and I visit the country about once a year to stock up (I'm going next week!) Here's my beer fridge...

That looks good for a weekend.

Asa,
That fridge is awesome
Re: Trip to Belgium to stock up, do you drive onto a ferry direct say to Ostend?
Does the cost of a bottle come that cheap you cover the travel costs or is it just that you can bring home those rare niche beers that aren't available over here?
I might be able to talk her indoors into a trip to Brussels and while she's in the art galleries I can be getting merry.

Ive noticed you are from Mansfield. Must be some local brews there that are worth sampling? Iam in Sheffield and theres lots of Micro breweries, mainly to cater for the students but there are plenty of grown ups pubs too.
Happy drinking

RehctELF wrote:Asa,
That fridge is awesome
Re: Trip to Belgium to stock up, do you drive onto a ferry direct say to Ostend?
Does the cost of a bottle come that cheap you cover the travel costs or is it just that you can bring home those rare niche beers that aren't available over here?
I might be able to talk her indoors into a trip to Brussels and while she's in the art galleries I can be getting merry.

Ive noticed you are from Mansfield. Must be some local brews there that are worth sampling? Iam in Sheffield and theres lots of Micro breweries, mainly to cater for the students but there are plenty of grown ups pubs too.
Happy drinking

We take the ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge, saves several hours of driving over any other route. And avoids hassle with migrants at Calais. We visit Bruges, it's an amazing city, closer, and easier to find accommodation with parking than Brussels.

It's not that cheap with current exchange rates, the hypermarkets are reasonable but the beers that they don't stock cost more than €2 a bottle in the specialist beer shops. But the beers I can get are worth it! Flavour we don't get over here. Most English beer is made for necking back so it's not too strong. Belgian beer is made to savour, so it's much stronger - 6% is "normal", stronger beers typically 8-10%. I've even seen 14%!

We usually take a ride out to Lille to grab some French wine while we're there too. Now there, we can still pick up decent wine that's cheaper than I can buy here.

I'll be honest, I avoid going out in Mansfield (as a retired teacher, too much chance of finding ex-students throwing up in the gutter!) We used to have a real brewery before the asset-strippers at Banks's bought it out. I've not actually sampled any of the micro breweries round here; I don't actually know of many other than the one near my sister-in-law's house.

Here's the new stock from last week:

Last night had a lovely beer called Platform 6.1 ,,,from a The Wickwar Wessex Brewing Company. I found it cheap in B&M Bargain's 6.1 is the strength but it was still a nice light beer...