Samuel Smith’s Old Brewery Pale Ale

[Stout Fanatic]

This is my favorite English Style Ale and I have not seen it in the U.S. market for several years. They have the organic version and several of their fruit beers along with their seasonal Winter Welcome but not the original Old Brewery Pale Ale. I live in a big market so I don’t think it is just not in my area. Does anyone know anything about why it is no longer available in the U.S. market?

 

[MaxStout]

Samuel Smith's site only shows the organic among their bottled offerings. Maybe they discontinued the original version.

How did the original compare with the organic? I haven't tried either, but might pick up the organic to try next time I'm in the store. Along with some of their oatmeal stout, which is, IMO, the benchmark of the style.

 

[Stout Fanatic]

Agreed, both their Oatmeal and Imperial Stouts are very good. The Organic Pale Ale is good but lacks something the original has. Maybe it’s in my mind. A funny thing about this brewery (which BTW, is my favorite overall in the world) is they do not do tours. I was driving from Coventry to York passing right by Tadcaster so I called ahead and was laughed at. I was written off as a silly American tourist!

 

[MaxStout]

Agreed, both their Oatmeal and Imperial Stouts are very good. The Organic Pale Ale is good but lacks something the original has. Maybe it’s in my mind. A funny thing about this brewery (which BTW, is my favorite overall in the world) is they do not do tours. I was driving from Coventry to York passing right by Tadcaster so I called ahead and was laughed at. I was written off as a silly American tourist!

Not even a tasting room? I guess when you've been brewing world-class beer for 250 years, you can do what you want.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Agreed, both their Oatmeal and Imperial Stouts are very good. The Organic Pale Ale is good but lacks something the original has. Maybe it’s in my mind. A funny thing about this brewery (which BTW, is my favorite overall in the world) is they do not do tours. I was driving from Coventry to York passing right by Tadcaster so I called ahead and was laughed at. I was written off as a silly American tourist!

If the cap fits...

You have to remember that the market dynamics are rather different in the UK - the lack of a 3-tier system means that the typical family brewery owns 100+ pubs. Why on earth would you want to go drinking in a draughty industrial facility when you could be drinking in front of a fire in a proper pub as God intended? It's changing a bit now, partly under the US influence, but "pubbiness" remains a key part of the experience of drinking British beer.

And it has to be said that Sam's is probably the most eccentric of the family brewers - they got through the Noughties and into the Teens without nonsense such as a website, and a search of Google News for "Humphrey Smith" will turn up lots of more recent ways that the boss has been trying to upset staff and customers...

I don't keep a close eye on Sam's beers, particularly the export variants, but I think Organic Pale Ale was just a rebrand or near-replacement for OBPA a few years ago. The nature of British farming is that brewers have to switch barley varieties every few years so I'd guess that they took a view that if they had to switch variety anyway, they might as well switch to one that could be grown organically and use that as a marketing angle.