Coniston Bluebird XB

Brewed by Hepworth
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Horsham, England

(Bottle) Pours a lightly hazy amber body with a small off-white head. Aroma of lemon, lime, and florals. Flavor of floral hops, herbs, malt, and citrus.

Date: 4/13/2007
Serving: 500 mL bottle (4.4% ABV). Thanks Matt!
Event: Weekly Friday night tasting.
Location: River’s Bend Wine & Spirits.

Tasting Notes
Aroma: Sugary citrus hops (Tang?) with a touch of spice and some light maltiness in the background.
Appearance: Sparkling copper orange color (about one shade lighter than the regular Coniston Bluebird Bitter) with a large, foamy white head.
Flavor: Similar to a really light and soft Pale Ale. There was some balanced malts and hop bitterness, but nothing overly distinguishable. Maybe some light caramel/toffee malt and light citrus hops...
Palate: Medium-light body. Smooth, slick, and soft.
Overall: An English Bitter with American Mount Hood hops for aroma? I’m all about experimentation and all, but why mess with a good thing?! This beer is an interesting twist on a typical English Bitter, but I think I prefer the original, unadulterated Coniston Bluebird Bitter a bit more...

NorCal tasting Apr 07 - Not sure about this beer. Apparently this was made with American hops. Hmpf. It was? This was easy drinking for sure, but it didn’t have much of a flavor profile at all. Aroma was really soft, nearly non-existant but there was a touch of grassy hops. Very unassuming. Appearance was dark gold in color with a white foamy head. Mouthfeel was clean and crisp. Flavors were light, almost seemed diluted to me somehow. Nothing bad, but damn if I wanted to drink something this light I’d have a N/A. Nothing spectacular at all. Perhaps when you want to session something, this might fit the bill.

Bottle (from BItter Virtue, BB Feb 08). Some citrussy hops with slight soapiness. Cleanish biscuity malts with refreshing hoppy finish. Quite nice but gets a bit boring

Deep copper body with a frothy white head. Big Mt. Hood hops balance out this scrumptious English ale. Citrus astringency from a nicely shaped bottle makes this one of the coolest session beers from Great Britain. Love it!

Bottled, 4.4% ABV. Dark golden, with a light white and not persistent head. Pleasant aroma with citric and pine notes. balanced flavours between malt and hops, not overly bitter finish. Refreshing.

Bottle. Golden beer with a foamy head. The aroma is fruity and lightly hopped, and the flavour is lightly dry, watery and slightly fruity. Overall an average beer but too weak.

Pours a hazed amber that clears as the beer warms. Very large-bubbled head, and sediment in the bottle. The label says this is bottle conditioned. The beer starts off with a big hoppy aroma, a little on the grassy side with a touch of lemon. The body is a bit thinner than I’d hoped for and the malt much drier than expected. Tasty, but I would love to see that maltiness beefed up and perhaps not be quite so dry.