Renewing your acquaintance with Sam

Interesting results in my poll on when people last visited a Sam Smith’s pub. 11% (including myself) had done so within the past week, while 54% had during the past year. However, 33% had done so at some time in the past, but longer than a year ago, suggesting it is high time they made another visit to their distinctive, characterful and keenly-priced pubs. Only 13% had never been in one at all.

One commenter suggested that many people wouldn’t have been to one through simple reasons of geography, but Sam’s pubs are fairly widespread, with concentrations in Yorkshire, the North-West and London, and a scattering through the Midlands stretching down as far as Bristol and Cardiff. Plus it’s very unlikely that anyone of drinking age has lived such a limited life that they have never travelled to within reach of one. Here’s a map of their pub locations.

And, for those who complain about Sam’s limited and unadventurous beer range, John Clarke has provided me with a number of examples of their brewing innovations over the past thirty years:

• First to seriously introduce revivalist oatmeal stout, (Taddy) porter and imperial stout in the 1980s
• Exported these to the USA and arguably played a part in the revival of interest in those styles there
• Produced strong bottle-conditioned Yorkshire Stingo - another revival of an old style
• Continue to innovate, e.g. Organic Chocolate Stout
• Make authentic German wheat beer in house in the UK
• Run the only UK lambic brewery at Stamford - brew house had been sprayed with yeast from De Troch lambic brewery in Belgium (shame all goes into sweet fruit beers)