Samuel Smith Old Brewery Bitter

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Very nice semi-clear light amber to mostly orange color. Off-white colored head. Not a real big head with and easy pour that settled to a nice ring. Getting the sweet fruity smelling grapejuice hint. Slightly faint grapes however. Maybe even a touch of cranberry juice. Different, but kind of pleasing. A bit of sourness coming through on the nose also. I'm detecting the cranberry taste first. Just a small amount of bitterness at the back end. Slightly sour after it sets on the tongue for a second. Very well balanced. Medium to thin mouthfeel. Dry and crisp. Somewhat light, but not real watery. This is really a pretty good brew in my opinion. It's different from most. I like the change of pace, however I don't think I could make an evening of it.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

Visited the John Snow Pub in Soho on 2/1/08 as an epidemiologist's pilgrimage: a pink granite slab outside the pub marks the site where John Snow removed the handle from the Broad Street pump, ending a deadly cholera epidemic in 1854. This bitter was served VERY COLD; needed to let it warm a little before drinking. Even with warming, everything about this ale was light; the head, the body, the nose and the flavor. Easy drinking, smooth, and cheap, but little character.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Jonmoore: That's the very pub I worked at for a couple of years..Maybe I served you!? One of my favourite beers. A nice big whack of malt, in a perfectly balanced ale. Hints of fruit, toffee, and caramel round out the beer, with a slight natural honey like sweetness lingering in the background. Enough bitterness to make you come back and want another mouthful, and in it's cask conditioned state (you can also get the beer through the nitrogen powered kegs these days) has enough dry oakyness to take out any chance of the beer coming across as too smooth or sickly. The only downer is a slight rotten banana sort of aroma. But maybe I noticed this more because I cleaned the beer lines of this particular beer about 4 times a week for two years! Get's a 9 for appearance when done properly. Its a bright ruby red (closing in on a dark amber), with a lovely foamy head (hand pulled with a sparkler or almost looks like a lovely flat brandy brown with no sparkler!). However, when the beer isn't done well, and the keg is unsettled, or served through dirty lines, the appearance can be cloudy and drop to a 5-6. Flavour and Mouthfeel, through the keg, not the oak cask, also both lose 1-2 points. Oh, btw jonmoore, there are LOADS of SS pubs in the Westend of London (and London in general). Ask around!

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Cask conditioned ("drawn from an oak cask") at The Golden Ball, Scarborough (a Samuel Smith's pub). Deep golden colour, creamy head. Pleasant aroma of fruity hops. Tolerable hops in the flavour - smooth and easy drinking. Okay.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Had this many times recently on draught at the Cock pub,on Great Portand Street, but a coins throw from Oxford Circus. Nice, malty and difficult not to keep drinking and miss your train out of London. It is also very cheap at said establishment, it being a Sam Smith's pub (rare in London).

Aroma: 0 | Appearance: 0 | Mouthfeel: 0 | Flavor: 0 | Overall: 0