Samuel Smiths Yorkshire Stingo

Brewed by Samuel Smith
Style: English Strong Ale
Tadcaster, England

Bottled. A deep red beer with a huge lazing tan head. The aroma has notes of over ripe fruits, malt, caramel, and a bit of raisins. The flavor is very sweet with strong notes of over ripe fruits as well as medium notes of caramel and malt as well as light notes of raisins, leading to a dry and bitter finish. The alcohol tickles the tongue.

50cl bottle. Medium beige head atop hazy copper body. Aroma is moderately sweet, caramel, raisin, some plum, light toffee. Taste is moderately sweet, raisin, caramel, some plum, light alcohol warming. Smooth medium body.

Pours cloudy caramel color with thin off white head. Aromas of apples, toffee, figs, raisins and some alcohol. Fruity and caramelly flavor with a touch of oak and some booziness. The flavors don’t live up to the aromas for me. Medium body with moderate carbonation.

Bottle from Bottleworks.

Served on the high side of cellar temperature. This is one good-looking beer; pours a beautiful red-brown with a modest and coarse/short-lived head but abundant lacing and a long-lasting rim of foam around the edge of the glass. There’s a tremendous amount going on in the aroma: apples and dates, old wine barrels and oak, toffee. Flavor is drier than anticipated given the aroma, but by no means bone dry; instead, we get an interesting blend of sourness (more in the brown ale vein than the sour ale vein) and damp old oak with dark dried fruits and sherry, any earthy bitterness closing the whole thing out. Enjoyable mouthfeel, certainly not hot nor particularly thick, but quite fulfilling once the palate adjusts expectations. Nice beer but perhaps not exceptional.

500 mlk bottle poured a clear reddish amber with a lasting amber head., Aromas of plum, raisin, molasses, oak and light vanilla. Palate was medium bodied and sdmooth with a dry finish., Flavors of plum, raisin, oak, toffee, light molasses and light vanilla with a smooth dry lingering fruity finish.

Deep copper in colour, with a massive, frothy head and moderate carbonation. Aroma of caramel, sweet, overripe red fruit, nuts and oak. Flavour of barley sugar, more wood and fruit sugars. Finish was dryish but marred by over-prominent alcohol. Good.

Appearance: Pours a near clear, dark amber-hued ody with a medium-small, bubbly, off-white head. Smell: A nose of caramel-coated, toasted biscuit tops provide a nice sweet-smelling scent accented by notes of dried fruits and spicy English hops. Taste: Begins with a taste of sweet, luscious caramel with a deep, dark sugary tone to it along with some lightly toasty biscuit hints and a notable fruitiness coming across as raisins and dehydrated apricots ready for the trail mix bag. Mild spiciness and bitterness from the English hops. Only a minor perceived woody character seems to have been imparted by the oak staves. A bit mineral-laden on the back half. There’s a little leftover malt sweetness on the otherwise lightly spicy finish. Mouthfeel: Medium-full body. Just a skosh above medium carbonation. Drinkability: Not bad! It’s quite good, in fact, though, at the price tag of around eleven bucks per bottle (the real source of the sting-o), I don’t see myself returning to it anytime soon.

Name: Stingo
Date: November 21, 2009
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Cellar Party
Appearance: hazy amber, fine beige head
Aroma: sweet and fruity aroma, dark caramel sweetness
Flavor: sweet fruity flavor, balancing earthyness
Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 12/20
Rating: 3.2/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: ** /4