I decided to go high end today. High end doesn't mean as much as it might in the west, it simply means massively extorting me for craft beers because they're imported. This challenge is costing me a fortune.

I bought three beers; One English beer - Today's - and two mystery Chinese ones. Together they cost about...

$28!!!

So i'm fuming, but whatever. At least I know this beer is amazing. And definitely the majority of that price tag.

First, some background:

Possibly the most british business I've ever heard of.

Samuel Smith's Old Brewery out-dates my previous beers significantly, having been founded in 1758 somewhere in Yorkshire. 'The Old Brewery' as it was originally called, was bought by John Smith with the money from his Dad, a butcher and cattle dealer,Samuel Smith. 40 years later, John Smith passed the business down to his nephew, Samuel Smith, and that's pretty much where we are today.

The thing I love most about this story is how they have held on to tradition. The old brewery is home to some of the last working dray horses in the world. These are huge shire horses that go around the town of Tadcaster where the brewery was established, delivering their beers all working week, a centuries-long routine.

They also maintain the old brewing traditions, with the same strain of yeast from over 100 years ago, and the water drawn from the same well from 250 years ago. You know, I'm starting to forgive the extortionate price range, even if most of it does go into the Communist Party's giant pocket.

Review

The internet looks far more favourably on this beer than my previous travesty, averaging about 4.4 out of 5.

What about me? Well, I love this beer. Part of it is likely cognitive bias because it has the word chocolate in it, but it really is my kinda beer if there was any. In the glass, it's incredibly dark with a browning froth (Forgive my lack of professional terminology), and you can anticipate the taste pretty accurately on the smell alone, which is probably the best thing about it.

It's very sweet, almost too sweet... I dunno a mix between chocolate, vanilla, that kinda thing, and the aftertaste? I guess kinda consistent. Seems balanced I suppose?

I expected the % volume to be somewhere over 6% (I once had a chocolate beer at 10 or 11% and it was great!) given its strong smell, but In fact it's a steady 5%. For the price, I'd hope to get a little more buzzed but hey, it's enjoyable.

So there's my day 3. Cheers!

Today I nominate @pearlumie, because I'd love to see some local beers from Nigeria, and he deserves a night on the town. I also nominate @m31 cuz steem.chat buddies =D

The Rules

• You have to try a new beer every day, for 7 days
• The beer must be something you have never tasted before
• You must put a photo of the beer and write a few words about it
• Nominate someone every day
• If you are a social outcast with no friends to invite you just join the fun. You have every excuse to drink!
• Use the tag "#sevendaybeerchallenge" as one of your five tags.