BEER REVIEW: 474

BREWER: Samuel Smith’s Brewery, North Yorkshire, England 

STYLE: Pale Ale

ABV: 5%

VESSEL: 550ml brown bottle

DATE OF POST: 6th November 2026

 

SAMMY SAY’S…

Samuel Smith Pale Ale pours a handsome ruby-brown colour and, to its credit, makes a strong first impression. The old school packaging is full of character, with the Tudor rose and traditional design carrying the weight of a brewery that knows its history. The nose follows suit, offering floral and rose like notes backed by touches of toast and caramel. It’s not especially bold, but there’s enough there to suggest a comforting, malt driven pint.

The flavour starts promisingly enough. Malt leads from the front, supported by hints of caramel, nuttiness and a vague dark fruit character that I kept coming back to as plum. The mouthfeel sits comfortably in the middle ground, neither thin nor particularly rich, and for a while it feels like a dependable if unremarkable traditional ale.

Unfortunately, that’s where things start to unravel. The plum-like finish never quite settles into the rest of the beer and instead feels disconnected from everything that comes before it. Rather than adding complexity, it throws the balance off and leaves the whole experience feeling oddly disjointed. I kept waiting for the flavours to come together, but they never really did. There are beers that grow on you as the pint progresses. This wasn’t one of them. Respectable presentation aside, Samuel Smith Pale Ale left me more disappointed than anything else. It simply ain’t one for me.

Sammy’s Rating: 35%

 

JYMI SAY’S…

For years I have not really been much of a fan of Samuel Smith’s offerings. Firstly, when supping them on the rare occasion, albeit in one of their own ale houses, I cannot say that I have ever been particularly blown away by the brews. Drinkable yes, but none of them really ever went beyond that. But where I have had the main issue in the past regarding the SS brand was the packaging. However, it has since dawned on me that it’s not the packaging at all that I have the issue with… it’s the packaging on mass! Much like a wee ant on his own is a perfectly pleasant little animal, but if faced with 40,000,000 of the suckers in one go, suddenly things are not so pleasant. Of late I’ve seen SS bottles lined up on mass in a local stockist I have been going to. And they just look terrible together. But, but but but but but, this particular Pale has been sitting on its lonesome at my testing table for the past five days, and I’ve grown rather fond of it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not incredible by any means but I have grown to admire its different take on a traditional bottle of beer.

And would you believe it, for the most part, I very much enjoyed the beer too.

What a turnaround for the Smiths!

This Pale Ale has bags of character. After a particularly triumphant pour the nose leads the way with full malty caramel and fruity tones. The flavour is rich and luxurious with hits of dates, plums and general wintery darks fruits as well as a hint of that malty caramel once more. Mouthfeel wise, this beer is quite cloying and in this instance, I’m enjoying that, bringing an extra dimension to the drinking experience. Though there is certainly no hop kick at the end, the aftertaste is long and slightly sweet, once again bringing those winter fruit notes. However, the reason I have scored it a little down on what you might expect from this write so far is this… two thirds into the drinking it all became a bit too much and although I was still enjoying the flavours I kind of just wanted the experience to just be done with. Give me a half pint or 330 bottle of this and I would be more than happy, but no more please.

 

And on a side note (haha, I must have been hungry when testing this) the final comment I put down in my manual writings was… Would go well with a pie. And I stand by that statement.

Jymi’s Rating: 70%

 

MUSE ON BOOZE RATING: 52.5%

MOB review next weekend: BUTCOMBE ORIGINAL by BUTCOMBE BREWERY

Sammy & Jymi – Musing on Booze weekly since 2017

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M O B 2026