Coniston Old Man Ale (Bottle)

Brewed by Hepworth
Style: Old Ale
Horsham, England

Much like a fine lambic brewed with Maris Otter and dry-hopped with Challenger. An exceptional, thought-provoking beverage.

Pours dark chestnut red-brown with a huge, rocky brown-egg-colored head that fades to a half-inch layer of foam with moderate lacing. Aromas are rust, coffee, leather, ruby port, and alcohol. Taste is fruity-sweet but tart, reminiscent at first of juicy fruit gum, but then suddenly morphing to the banana-like flavor of diacetyl and tart fruit. Next came a bit of toasty, creamy malt, chocolate and then the heavy bitterness imparted by the challenger hops. Good finish, citrus fruit and yeast linger. Nice balanced mouthfeel.

This is fairly light but excellent, with subtle complexity and high drinkability. Bright, pale, faintly brownish copper, it has a large off-white head that dissipates slowly to a thin, foamy top. It leaves a little weak lace. The aroma is caramelised buttered toast with sweet-sour fruit, hints of leaves, pine, lemon, orange, and even grapefruit. The taste is light and fairly dry, but not bland. It has light complexity and well-rounded balance. It has a clear, very clean frutiness, lightly sweet-sour, a hint of mineral, light caramelised toast, hints of caramel, leaf and resin. It starts dry but a light caramelly and toasty sweetness takes over at the finish and lingers.

Slightly sweet aroma that’s more malt than hop sweetness. Deep amber color that is very inviting. Subtle, mildly sweet flavor that is a lovely combination of malt and hop. Warm and pleasant with a smooth, gentle palate.

What makes something an old ale? very nice crisp clean aroma. Also has a nice amount of hops. A dry grainy finish, a pretty tasty beer.

Head is initially large, fizzy/frothy, off-white, mostly lasting. Body is hazy dark amber, bottle conditioned. Aroma is moderately malty (toasted bread, cookie), moderately yeasty (barnyard, horseblanket), lightly hoppy (orange, apricot), with a note of clove. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, velvety texture, lively carbonation. A cool, farmhousy bitter (old ale? um...no) that reminds me of Burton Bridge beers. Seemingly fermented with wild yeast...very horsey and barny. Delicious and well-balanced.

Bottle: True amber with a generous head of soft foam. The aroma is yeasty, bready and fruity. The flavor follows suit, richly fruity (apple, pear, cherry, even a little maple) with a sweet yeasty finish. Look up "ale" in the dictionary, this is it. (#3032, 7/17/2007)

Ruby color, pours great into bottle, nicely conditioned, perfect pint.......fruity , malty.....perfect compliment to stablemate Bluebird........availability hit and miss.....consistency from bottle to bottle in question, but this one was great