Samuel Smith’s Famous Taddy Porter
April 26, 2010
When you make a beer that you can put ‘The Famous’ into the name, you must either be the real deal or incredibly delusional. For example, when I insert ‘The Famous’ in between my first and last names, people seem to get upset. WTF?
Samuel Smith Brewery doesn’t have this problem as we found with their excellent Oatmeal Stout. They can get away with naming a beer The Famous Taddy Porter because its considered a really, really good beer, and as a result I’m excited to be reviewing it for you tonight for English Beer Month 2010!
Taddy Porter is a 5% ABV beer that’s been made in England since 1979 at Yorkshire’s oldest brewery which was established in 1758. (Hey, its embossed in glass on the bottle!) Since then, Taddy Porter has been recognized by many as one of the finest beers in the world and Michael Jackson (The Beer Hunter) once said it was one of the world’s best 5 beers!
So, this English beer comes with a decent amount of street cred. What’s all this then?
Taddy Porter pours almost as black a color I’ve ever seen in a beer. This stuff is dark! No light gets through either, so for the most part its a mystery what’s inside the glass. (I’m hoping beery goodness lurks within!) There’s a nicely formed beige head as you can see in the accompanying picture, and it leaves a nice bit of lacing on the glass.
The aroma is very interesting! While not overpowering in any way, I’m almost reminded of beers with that ‘dark fruit’ quality to them. You know, raisin, plum kind of sugary smells. I’m also slightly reminded of a bourbony type of thing. I know other people get coffee, chocolate and even tobacco out of the nose, but I’m going with dark fruit, malt and slight bourbon. I find myself smelling this beer more than is likely considered normal!
Sometimes a beer is so hyped up and then lets you down when you try it. Well, Taddy Porter can back up ‘The Famous’ label easily and I can sum it up in three words. Won Der Ful. (I think that’s German)
I’m getting that dark fruit sweetness throughout the sip, and it’s REALLY nice. There is a sweetness to the beer that is very satisfying but not overdone. There’s a nice roasted maltyness to it, perhaps some of that chocolate comes through, and again I’m going to say almost a hint of burbon flavor in there as well.
Taddy Porter is smoooooooth. Damn smooth and is a really easy drinker with a medium kind of body and nice slick mouthfeel.
Would I drink the Samuel Smith Taddy Porter again? Yes I would, and I would drink it again even if it weren’t famous! This is an excellent beer that pushes all of my ‘great beer’ buttons. In my mind, it does everything right in an unpretentious way and is definitely one of my 5 top beers and so gets a very rare 5 star rating from me!
Rating: 
I can’t believe I’ve waited so long to try it. Another classic hiding in plain site.
What do you think about the Samuel Smith’s Famous Taddy Porter? If you’ve had it, do you think it lives up to its name and reputation, or is it overhyped? What about their other stuff? Bob the Brit really enjoyed the Old Brewery Bitter – maybe Sam Smiths is one of those brewers that ‘gets it’.
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Posted in 5 Star Reviews, Ales, Bocks, Porters and Stouts, English Beers
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April 26th, 2010 at 9:02 am
Yes Scott, Samuel Smiths is a brewery that most definitely ‘gets it’ – thus far they’ve managed to resist the creeping globalisation and have remained fiercely independent.
Here in the UK they have their own chain of pubs that sell Samuel Smiths ales exclusively. They take that exclusivity to extremes with brands like Coke being replaced by their own cola, but the prices in their pubs are so competitive and the beers so good you can excuse them anything.
I know of guys who travel into London with a ‘Sammy Smiths’ pub crawl clearly marked out, usually about ten pubs, starting Saturday lunchtime and finishing… well I’m not sure they can recall finishing!
As Scott observes, damn fine beer, and yes (for once) the Germans are right ‘Won Der Ful’!
April 26th, 2010 at 10:15 am
Sounds great Scott. I’ll have to give it a try. I wasn’t as blown away by their Oatmeal Stout as you all were, but it was good. I’ve herad great things about the tsddy porter, so time to give it a go as they say in Britain.
.-= Don´s last blog ..Its Five O’Clock Somewhere… =-.
April 26th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Yeah, I hear you on this one. Sam Smiths’ beers are usually exceptional – they are very traditional, have hardly any web prescence and thier beers, sold at thier pubs, are usually spot on in terms of taste and value. Very consistently good – and that’s hard to find sometimes in brewers.
April 26th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
@Bob, can you tell I took a year of German in College?
To touch a bit on what @leigh said, I wish I was more knowledgeable about beer when I visited the UK about 10 years ago!
@Don, its just a solid beer, no bells and whistles. I think sometimes with craft beer, we’re so engrossed in the new and different that we neglect some of the old standards. Its good stuff!
.-= Scott-TheBrewClub´s last blog ..Wells Banana Bread Beer =-.
April 27th, 2010 at 10:10 am
Mike and I were just discussing how Samuel Smiths just produces quality. I really want to try this (it’s been awhile) to see if I pick up on the tobacco aroma. I actually love the smell of tobacco (tasted it once an wanted to hurl).
great review Scott.
.-= nate´s last blog ..Dark Lord Day 2010 In Retrospect =-.
May 4th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Dude, these guys are just great across the board. I’d venture to say that this is my favorite Porter…to me, it’s simply the standard.
.-= Michael Reinhardt´s last blog ..Back in the Game =-.
May 5th, 2010 at 8:23 am
Based on my own ratings, I guess its my favorite porter as well! I’d agree, these guys get it right and I’m looking forward to trying their other beers eventually.
.-= Scott-TheBrewClub´s last blog ..Beer Can Cannon – Gotta Love It! =-.
July 4th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
I asked my local beer guy: “What’s better then Guiness Extra Stout , as I like the darker beers.”
He replied: “Just about everything.’
Me: “Can you make a recomendation”
He: “Sam’s Taddy” seems to be constantly running out of stock.”
So I bought a 4 pack of it and went home.
First mistake I made was having/ drinking the bottle, straight from the bottle!
Still, it tasted (and smelled) like liquid WOO HOO!
It made Guiness taste like the horse that made Coors!
The next day, I poured ANOTHER into a real beer GLASS, and became Stunned with the flavor and smell!
Problem was, it so SO beautiful, SO SMOOTH, so ( I can’t descibe) that it went down so very swiftly!
THIS is a VERY nice beer!
July 4th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
@panhead – thanks for stopping in and sharing the story! While I don’t mind Guinness, the Taddy Porter is simply in another class of deliciousness. You’ve made a vise choice and should now go check out the other Sammy Smiths beers – especially the Oatmeal Stout!
.-= Scott-TheBrewClub´s last blog ..A Sammy Smiths Pub Crawl =-.