Samuel Smith's

Ever so occasionally, I come across a brewery in the Whitbread Gravity Book that's still going strong. Like Samuel Smith's. I thought you might like to see some of their old beers.


You'll note that their Brown Ales in the 1940's and 1950's were quite unlike their current version. They were "Southern style", while today's is "Northern style". I wonder when and why they changed?

I drank quite a bit of Old Brewery Bitter in 1975/76. That was my first year at Leeds University. It was just 18p a pint in the Student Union bar. Then they had a disaster with their yeast. It took a while to sort out and I believe they had to change yeast strain. Old Brewery Bitter became a completely different beer. And one I wasn't that keen on.

I hardly touched a drop until I moved to London in 1983. Then I used to drink Sam's on a semi-regular basis. Mostly because their pubs were cheap and pleasant. I still wasn't that keen on Old Brewery Bitter, but at least it was cheap. And Sam's pubs usually looked after the beer reasonably well.

Back during WW II, who would have dreamed that in 2008 Sam Smith's would be the best brewery in Britain and the 76th best in the whole world? I certainly wouldn't have just 25 years ago.