Sam Smiths Beer

Subject: Sam Smiths Beer
From: GUEST,Guest - Chalkie
Date: 22 Nov 05 - 07:58 AM

Just been reading another thread going on about Humphries dictat banning any form of music in his pubs, when I nearly dropped off my chair laughing, having read " but why does he (or at least his company) have to make such a bloody good bitter?". Was this tongue in cheek?

This, for me, was the one disadvantage of singing in the Plough at Whitby, having to drink, what is widely regarded by most drinkers of decent beer, the bloody awful Sam Smiths beer. It might be cheap, but good it aint.

I can't understand the clamour to get folk back into Sam Smiths pubs. If there are other pubs willing to take us, I simply say sod yer Humphrey, I'll take me business elsewhere.

I'ts just a shame about the Plough because it's such a bloody good venue, large enough for performers and those who just want to listen - and wince at the beer - all be-it having to put up with being backed on to and your toes trod on.

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: GUEST,Raggytash
Date: 22 Nov 05 - 08:10 AM

To defend Gil, the volume of sales during folk week in the Plough is too great to allow the beer to settle properly, it was like this when Pete Tyler had the Plough too, there is no way to rack the beer for long enough. Pete once told me he had sold an 18 gallon barrel in just 45 minutes, a pint every 18.75 seconds. There's not a landlord breathing who could keep up with that unless they has a cellar the size of the QE2. What I did notice was that the price of cider has increased from £1.62 pre no singing to £1.91 post no singing, an increase of over 18% wonder if the two are connected

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Nov 05 - 08:11 AM

Totally agree with the above it is cheap and nasty beer...the stout is palatable

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: GUEST,Guest - Chalkie
Date: 22 Nov 05 - 08:27 AM

I understand the volume of beer that the Plough goes through Raggy and the need for any beer to stand for a few days to allow for it to settle, but, Sam Smiths at the best of times is not most people's idea of a decent pint. Still, Whitby wasn't the same this year without the Plough.

By the way, with a bit of luck and the consent of my dearest to drive me back, should be good for the lifeboat do. I've even learnt a couple of lifeboat songs since last I went. There isn't a campsite within easy walking distance is there?

Chalkie

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: Gedpipes
Date: 22 Nov 05 - 08:48 AM

Have to defend Sam Smiths. I love it or at least I did. I was weaned on it in the Linny in the Boro, In Guisborough (any one remember Museum Ale) The Plough, Arlington at Loftus and of course latterly in the pub of pubs, Nellies.
Its all a matter of taste. I like Camerons as well.
Blue skies
Ged

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: GUEST,Raggytash
Date: 22 Nov 05 - 09:00 AM

Chalkie

bring a sleeping bag you can crash at my place, if you can find any fllor space, last one down has to sleep in the cellar with the BIG spiders !

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: Folkiedave
Date: 22 Nov 05 - 09:06 AM

Sam Smith's was never very good. Now Cameron's a totally different kettle of beer, The Bluebell in Hull (Watersons) was Cameron's. So was my local in Sheffield (Walkley Cottage).

Drank a lot of beer in those places.

Dave

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 22 Nov 05 - 09:44 AM

It would be interesting to know just how much the takings went down by compared with previous years when music was encouraged, but that is something we will never be told. Anyway puuting prices up helps to restore the balance!!
Giok

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: GUEST,raggytash
Date: 22 Nov 05 - 10:27 AM

That info should be available as all companies are reqquired to amke public there account, a Dun & Bradstreet search should show it after the end of the finincial year

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: C-flat
Date: 22 Nov 05 - 12:03 PM

I have to agree with Gedpipes in saying that I don't think there's anything wrong with Sam Smiths beers.
Like Gedpipes i've sunk many a pint in the Linthorpe (I'll be there again on Friday) and genuinely prefer it to many others.

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Nov 05 - 12:26 PM

I'm with Ged et al

Sams bitter above all needs careful handling and cellar management. If that is absent, yes, then it can be dire. If managed well, it is nectar

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: GUEST,Ringer
Date: 22 Nov 05 - 12:34 PM

Was it about Sam Smith's beer that the Romans said, De gustibus non est disputandum?

Or the French said, chaque a son goût?

Whereas I say, each to his own poison.

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: Hand-Pulled Boy
Date: 22 Nov 05 - 07:59 PM

I always drink the extra stout in Nellies.

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: GUEST,Sorry, can't say who but not an employee
Date: 23 Nov 05 - 09:11 AM

Giok -

Word has it that the Plough took c£6000 in folk week compared to the oft quoted figures from previous years of £27000 - £33000

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: RichM
Date: 23 Nov 05 - 09:20 AM

Does each English pub sell just one firm's products?

If so, seems like an cumbersome restriction on customers' choices.

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: manitas_at_work
Date: 23 Nov 05 - 11:06 AM

It's a bit more complicated than that. Brewing used to be a vertical industry with the brewers owning most of the outlets. Many still do but there are now more retail chains (known as pubcos) who usually enter into an agreement with a particular brewer to sell only their products.

it's not such a restriction on choice when there's a rival pubco a few yards down the road but a couple of decades ago you would have found whole towns monopolised by a single brewery.

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 23 Nov 05 - 11:20 AM

Beer is for girls! REAL men drink Rioja!

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: Folkiedave
Date: 23 Nov 05 - 01:10 PM

Good heavens Ted whilst I am inclined to agree with you, since I try to measure the pleasure both give me on a regular basis - there is more crap Rioja than there is beer!

Dave

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: LesB
Date: 23 Nov 05 - 01:47 PM

I have to admit i'm not a fan of Sam Smiths beer, nor of Cameron's, in fact I find it hard work to get a decent pint in Whitby. (I do like Wold Top ), Maybe it's a regional thing, I'm from Lancashire.
Cheers
Les

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: Gedpipes
Date: 23 Nov 05 - 03:15 PM

Les it must be a regional thing. How can you not be a fan of Cameron's. You'll be saying next that you like flameco!
C -Flat enjoy the Linny. I've had great great times in there but not the same with Mrs Batchelor gone. (1977?)
Ged

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: C-flat
Date: 23 Nov 05 - 05:26 PM

A very different place since those days Ged but still a decent mix of old and young clientel.
I had my first pint there, in the company of my biology lecturer, Miles Maughan, from Kirby College around 1973/4.
C-flat.

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Nov 05 - 06:34 PM

Theres nothing wrong with Sams Smiths bitter and the Steak and ale pie in the White Horse (Nellies) was spot on, And theres nothing wrong with having a peaceful pint,but not everytime

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: GUEST,PubSpy
Date: 23 Nov 05 - 06:39 PM

It isn't a matter of taste, Sam Smiths IS rubbish.

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: The Walrus
Date: 23 Nov 05 - 08:39 PM

Strangely, Sam Smiths is a better pint in London than it is in Leeds.

Maybe it's the cellermen, but I found that true across the range of pubs I tried.

W

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: Terry K
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 02:35 AM

I remember the Linthorpe from the early 60s. A rugby playing mate of mine celebrated his 18th birthday there by attempting to drink 18 pints. The landlady was a bit perturbed because he had been a regular for two years and she didn't realise he'd been under age.

Starting at 5.30 p.m. he had the barmaid sign for every pint for proof. He only got to 16. Girl. I carted him home in the back of my dad's pick-up truck, there was no way he was allowed in the front!

Sam Smiths beer was crap in those days, all top pressure and probably only beaten for crapness by Nimmo's (and maybe Cameron's). Which was why my mate was drinking Boilermakers - half brown & half bitter.

When eventually my own village (Nunthorpe) was allowed a pub, guess what, it was a Sammy Smiths house.

cheers, Terry

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: Gedpipes
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 04:41 AM

Pub spy a tolerant guest I see ;-)

You will have heard that Miles died earlier this year C-Flat?
Miles was a true star.

Nunthorpe still a village Terry

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: Shiplap Structure3
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 05:38 AM

I cant believe all these people saying Sam Smiths is a bad pint is Mudcat just full of folkies weaned on boutique bottled beers and theme pubs?

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: Sttaw Legend
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 05:41 AM

Swallow

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: GUEST,Betsy
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 06:38 AM

Just said my bit in the Humph thread - precis - Sam Smith's is shite / the lousiest beer in the N.E. of England. Gillie and Magician et al will tell you , I've spent many a happy time swallying (and never once been tempted to join Camra and other anoraks) who generally it seems to me , can't tell a pint of piss from a pint of nectar.Seems to one or two of them in this thread.
Camerons at the Globe at Guisborough - hand pulled - 10 /10.

Cheers Betsy

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 07:05 AM

I seem to remember a song about a critic. The Albert 1984?
Cheers Peter
Ged

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: Hopfolk
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 07:18 AM

Walrus is right...
Sam Smiths from the Bricklayers Arms (Off Tottenham Ct. Road. London)) is palatable and still very reasonably priced. SS's bottled Nut Brown Ale, Porter etc. are all quite drinkable too.

On Draught, it does vary, but at £1.60 a pint, I would probably drink dog's whizz and like it.

CamoJohn

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: GUEST,John J
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 08:36 AM

I don't drink Sam Smith's any more, not since Humphrey's ruling of no music or singing.

I wasn't that impressed with the beer, but that was just a matter of taste not it's quality.

John

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: GUEST,Guest - Chalkie
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 08:48 AM

I can understand why in London Sam Smiths could be regarded as a decent pint!

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: Terry K
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 10:53 AM

London originally got Old Brewery Bitter and that was all. They were never subjected to the regular crap.

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: GUEST,Will
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 03:32 PM

Just stumbled across your chats! Had a pint of Stout at Sam Smith's pub in Marylebone High Street (Angel in the Fields?). Lovely looking pub, but the beer.... Not a cask in sight, it all appeared to be keg (electric dispensers, loads of head, short pints). Beers cold and bland and "smooth". Questions:
Are SS beers all available as cask ("real") and keg?
Are the bottled beers as nice as their labels? And are they bottle-conditioned?

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: Tootler
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 05:58 PM

My daughter worked in a Sam Smith's pub in York while she was doing her Masters degree. The one by the river that always gets flooded, but whose name has escaped me just now. She said at that time all their beer was bulk delivered. No cask conditioned.

I found the beer OK, but nothing special.

I was at the session at the Crown in Manfield last Sunday and found that someone has resurrected the Barnsley beer name - they call it Acorn beer. Good stuff. In its day, Barnsley Bitter was something special IMO.

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: C-flat
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 02:46 AM

You will have heard that Miles died earlier this year C-Flat?
Miles was a true star.

I'm really sorry to read that Gedpipes. I lost touch with Miles some years ago but I thought about him often and always described him as the best teacher I'd ever had. A most engaging and interesting man with an infectious enthusiasm in whatever he was doing (he enjoyed a pint or two as well).
I'm sure he's missed by many.

C-flat.

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 04:12 AM

Sam [ eeeuuuch ] Smiths was never good beer, now Timothy Taylors is good beer.

The extra stout is palatable, the rest is crap. I can remember being in the Plough in Whitby on a Sunday night and the pub running out of beer, yet they were serving again on Monday morning, it is impossible for real ale to travel from Tadcaster, over the North Yorkshire Moors to Whitby and not have to settle for at least a full day, if not more, real ale my arse.

eric

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: Shiplap Structure3
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 05:18 AM

It seems that the consenus is Sam Smiths is bad beer, John Smiths is preferable!
So Humphrey has done Folky palates a real favour then.
Why all the whinging??

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 05:25 AM

The Sam and John Smiths breweries are situated within about 100 yards of each other, and I've always presumed the common water source had a lot to do with their similarly dark hue and rather harsh taste (I'm no expert). I'd say Sams is slightly better when kept properly, but IMHO they're both poor in comparison to the dull but dependable Tetleys

It's a good point to mention the importance of the beer being kept properly. Theakstons seems to be a notoriously poor traveller, and yet if you've drunk a pint of it in Masham you'd swear it was the greatest beer in the world (apart from Timmy Taylors, of course!)

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: LesB
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 04:44 PM

John Smiths preferable? Not to me. Both very average. Next you'll be telling me Tetley's is worth drinking!
Cheers
Les

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: Fortunato
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 08:09 PM

Abbots Ale.

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: robomatic
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 08:34 PM

Is Sam Smiths related to Samuel Smith's (Yorkshire) sold in the states in clear bottles with shoulders. The stuff goes for the price of champagne here, and is well worth it.

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 26 Nov 05 - 04:40 AM

Tetley's is even worse than Smiths [ both ] the water must come straight out of the River Aire, or the canal, the saying round here is ' if the bottom has fallen out of your, world, drink a few pints of Tetley's    and watch the world fall out of your bottom. '

eric

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: The Walrus
Date: 26 Nov 05 - 10:33 AM

"...It seems that the consenus is Sam Smiths is bad beer, John Smiths is preferable!..."

That IS a joke, right?

John Smiths is tinned fizz - I'll go further, John Smiths is the Watney's Keg of our time!
(Anyone old enough to remember Watney's Keg and Watney's Red Barrel will understand the strength of the insult)

W

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: Les from Hull
Date: 26 Nov 05 - 02:07 PM

As I don't (often) drink bitter, might I put in a word against the spirits available in Sam Smiths' pubs. What aa appalling range of cheap crap! (In my own humble opinion of course)

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 27 Nov 05 - 04:28 AM

Your own humble opinion is spot on Les, of course Sam's is better than John's, but thats like comparing cat shit and dog shit, which do you prefer ?

eric

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Nov 05 - 04:56 AM

Les
As I do (often) drink bitter, might I put in a word for Sam Smiths bitter - I enjoy it very much, thanks largely to my York local, which keeps an excellent pint.
I agree the range of Sams spirits is not great, but the whisky is remarkably good, and would give a good showing in a blind tasting - ironically, better than the Sams Malt Whisky (IMO)

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: Shiplap Structure3
Date: 28 Nov 05 - 05:15 AM

Walrus
Certainly is a joke. In fact the whole threads a bit of a joke.
People have taken umbrage at Humphreys music policy.So go else where. In Beverley at the White Horse, the upstairs concert room is no longer used for music clubs and family functions thats a great shame,so I rarely go in. I do go in when I'm fed up with fake pubs full of guest beers that havent travelled well or been stored well.
I enjoy the diversity of beers, some I prefer to others. Its no bad thing that peoples tastes differ

Subject: RE: Sam Smiths Beer
From: GUEST,Guzzler
Date: 28 Nov 05 - 05:16 AM

Beat you Ted