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I've just opened a bottle of Smithwick's Pale Ale and one of my own recent efforts, a bitter that I was actually very pleased with. They were both chilled which muted the flavours somewhat but...

Smithwick's kicked my brew's arse.

No question. The wife also picked Smithwick's before being told that actually the other one was mine. The hops is definitely very noticeable. Don't know why others have had trouble spotting it. I think it's a good beer. And I'm going to have to go back to the drawing board.

Had one bottle last night , and no other beer or alcohol.

Found it an alright brew , not really a pale ale , had a feel of a blonde off it similar to a "golden ale" , slightly more malt than hops , but OK
Was thinking , I'll have to try 4 bottles and see if I'm OK after it ....



This morning I realised there is no way I can drink this again , Dry retching and all the bunged up feelings in the nose and throat . They're definitely putting something awful in it.

I am drinking a bottle at the moment (the things we do in the interests of scientific research) and it's ok. You need to use your imagination to fill in the flavours and aromas that are barely hinted at BUT....

I got SWMBO to taste it and (predictably!) it got the thumbs up <!-- s:roll: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_rolleyes.gif" alt="" title="Rolling Eyes" /><!-- s:roll: -->
I reckon the Diageo Market Research Task Force got it pretty much spot on.

A chat with a Smithwick's rep revealed a couple of interesting points:

- It's not a single hop Amarillo but they were cagey/smart enough not to want to say what the bittering is.
- They have a cooperative, not competitive, view of small brewers in a "rising tide raises all ships" kind of way.

In a pub with few options, I'd still probably seek any Czech pilsner before this, but I am rooting for Smithwick's PA's success after talking to them.

It has being my observation that those involved in the brewing process at the macro brewery,s do not have a problem with new micro brewery,s,and senior management are usually not paranoid about any threat,it is the rep,s that are often the issue,they are under pressure to meet quarterly targets and have a list of pubs as their run. Any competition to them is a threat and some have being known to use dirty tricks in the past.

I've had a few pints of this around town recently.I have to say I like it,not as much as any of the micro beers but as many have said already,if there was no choice I'd go for one.
It's not a very exciting beer but it's by no means a bad beer either.