Samuel Smith

Founded in 1758, Samuel Smith's Old Brewery is Yorkshire's oldest brewery and one of the last major independent breweries in Britain. Brewing has taken place at the historic Tadcaster site for more than 260 years, with the brewery maintaining many traditional techniques that have disappeared elsewhere in modern brewing.

The brewery is best known for fermenting its ales and stouts in traditional stone Yorkshire Squares carved from solid slate. Using the same house yeast strain since the nineteenth century, brewers manually rouse the yeast during fermentation to produce the rich, full-bodied malt character that has become a hallmark of Samuel Smith's beers. Brewing also continues with copper mash tuns, antique boiling coppers, English hop varieties including Fuggles and Goldings, and naturally conditioned ales matured in oak casks.

Samuel Smith's remains committed to preserving Britain's brewing heritage. The brewery still operates its own cooperage, where oak casks are built and repaired for use with traditional cask ales and the maturation of Yorkshire Stingo, making it one of the few breweries in the country to retain this historic craft alongside its time-honoured brewing process.