The beers of Iwakuni: Samuel Smith Old Brewery Taddy Porter

I am going to reiterate that this blog is officially apolitical. But when the whole "Brexit" vote was happening I thought "I should shamelessly capitalize on all of this England buzz for the blog" and so on a short stop in Palo Alto California I stopped in Whole Foods and picked this up. I then had to leave again, so this beer has sat in my fridge for a month and a half. This is the Taddy Porter from the fantastically named Samuel Smith Old Brewery of Tadcaster, North Yorkshire. The brewery says it was started in 1758, but in true European fashion that only means there has been a brewery there since 1758. The current brewery was started in 1886 when John Smith (of John Smith's brewery) moved his brewing operation to a larger building and left the old one to his nephew Samuel who in turn started his own brewery and named it Samuel Smith's brewery. The operation uses a brewing method called Yorkshire Square, the description of which I'm going to shamelessly rip off  from Wikipedia because it's long and I'm lazy: "A Yorkshire Square vessel is a two-storey system consisting of a shallow chamber approximately two metres high, above which is a walled deck. Cooled wort, the liquid extracted from malted barley, is fermented in the lower chamber, while the yeasty head settles on the deck above. During the first stage of fermentation, the fermenting wort is periodically pumped from the bottom of the chamber over the yeasty head, to keep the yeast mixed in with the wort. Later, the mixing is stopped and the wort in the chamber allowed to settle and cool gently. Most of the yeast rises onto the deck, and is left behind when the beer is drained from the chamber.^[17] The whole process takes at least six days. However, beer straight from a Yorkshire Square vessel will still have a harsh flavour, so the residual yeast is allowed to ferment any remaining sugar, producing a little extra alcohol and carbon dioxide, which mellows the beer. This conditioning begins in tanks at the brewery and continues after the beer is filled into casks, hence the phrase 'Cask Conditioned'". The description fails to mention that the chamber is a square cut piece of stone, hence the name "Yorkshire Square". The brewery also draws from the original 85 foot well created for the original brewery and uses the same strain of yeast they have been using since the early 1900's. It also employs one of the last active teams of non-show Shire draught (draft) horses who still make weekly beer delivery's around Tadcaster.

Nice looking horses

The porter is described on the bottle as "A very dark, full bodied ale with a rich, creamy head and an intense dry, tangy character. Brewed with well water (the original well sunk in 1758 is still in use), malted barley, roasted malt, yeast and hops. Fermented in 'stone Yorkshire squares'. The type of beer first brewed in the early 18th century; gained it's name from being drunk by porters in the fish, meat and other produce markets". They certainly want to give you a sense of the history, It seems to even be the major selling point. This isn't some over-engineered German beer, or fancy-pants Belgian beer, or eccentric American beer. This is the traditional, stalwart, British Empire building beer. The bottle is Samuel Smith's own design and has a very "before the war" feel to it. It has gold foil around the slender neck and over the crimp cap and a Samuel Smith embossed on what the internet says is actually a clear glass bottle (it only appears brown because of the contents, we'll see if that's true). I love the almost art deco styling of the front label of this bottle. If you had told me this bottle had been produced in the mid 1930's and only showed me the front, I would not immediately doubt you. This isn't the first beer I've said that about as it seems to be a trend among smaller European brewers with a history. They try to recapture a still tangible era when the countries of Europe were still very distinct from one another, and so were the beers that they made. It is 1 pint, 2.7 oz and 5% abv. Let's pour it into my British styled pub glass and see how it heads.

Nose from the bottle is one of roasted malt, but it's not heavy. It has a thick, creamy, beige head. Nose from the glass is fruity, maybe a little sweet malt. Color is pitch black, I don't think I could even see bubbles on the side of the glass (the bottle thing turns out to be untrue though, it is indeed brown glass). On first sip, it is light roasted malt with a dry fruity finish. Interesting thing though, it also tastes of hard water. Similar to how the sediment heavy water of Dublin gives Guinness it's flat but flavorful characteristic, the heavy waters of Yorkshire lend a similar quality to this one. You would expect a dark beer like this to be a heavy body, almost syrupy even, but it is not. The body is actually a straight medium, making this beer very easy to drink. Quite acidic though, but still smooth, silky mouthfeel. That finish keeps getting dryer and dryer as I drink this.

I went on a vinyl dig at the base thrift shop. I imagine a great deal of the LP's in there have been on this base for decades. One of them is actually marked for the base high school (square dancing record, with calls) and another turned out to be lateighty's catalog record for marching band music and routines (I can also only assume that this came from the high school). For a record entirely geared towards high school teachers, it is just as sexual as you would expect it to be.

 Which is to say very sexual

 I did find Kirby Buchanan's 1959 album "songs of faith and inspiration" which is in the odd category of western gospel, not to be confused with country gospel or regular gospel. I really enjoyed the music on that one, shame it's got a few scratches in it, most of those should buff out once my cleaning kit arrives.

 I also picked up a copy of "Jim Roberts sings you're tv favorites", which I picked up not because of a burning desire to hear late 1970's-early 1980's tv themes, but because it's actually signed by Jim Roberts himself and addressed to two of the previous owners, Sylvia and Herbert.

 Speaking of people who were on the Lawrence Welk show. I got all exited because I found a two disk copy of the Lawrence Welk musical family (find me another straight 27 year old man who would ever say that), and when I get it back to the room not only does it only contain one disk, but it's Dolly Parton! And just to add insult to injury, that is also a two part. Well, maybe I'll give Dolly's singing mammorys a chance.

Damn, she had a rockin' bod back in the day

Final thoughts. This is a refreshing beer. I would very much like to make one like it someday. It's not super complex, but it's not mono flavored either. It's just an all around good beer. I've met a number of people who say "I don't like beer, but I do like Guinness". If you meet any of these people, steer them towards this beer, I'm sure they'll like it. And pick one up for yourself while you're at it. I give this beer my blurry seal of approval.