Coniston Bluebird Bitter (Bottle)

Coniston Bluebird Bitter (Bottle)

Bottle conditioned.

Formerly contract brewed by Brakspear.

Currently contract brewed at Hepworth for Beer Counter, under the supervision of Peter Scholey, former Brakspear head brewer.

The ingredients and abv are different to the CAMRA Supreme Champion cask ale which continues to be brewed by Coniston.

Ingredients: Maris Otter and crystal malt; Challenger hops - mainly at the end of the boil.


BLUEBIRD is a fine session ale with a light golden colour. The intense resinous and spicy hop character which is the beer’s hallmark is derived from the use of unusual quantities of English Challenger hops, each bale being individually and personally selected by the brewer. The malt is, of course, Maris Otter fermented slightly warm to give a soft fruitiness with a faint hint of scented geranium.
3.2
652 reviews
Coniston, England

Community reviews

2.8 Pretty avg bitter, was slightly disappointed
2.8 Draught at Brouwerij Lane: pours copper with white head. Aroma is a metallic sort of maltiness. Taste is lightly bitter, sufficient malt backbone. OK beer.
2.5 500ml bottle as a Christmas present, drunk on 23/03/2006. A reasonable golden ale/ bitter. Slightly fruity and one with a minor astringent finish.
3.6 500ml bottle brewed in England at 4.2%. Not fully see-through gold. Small, dissipating head. Slight yeasty sock/geranium hop aroma. Low- carbonation. Piquant old-school English bitter hops, with, as the label says, a vegetal hint suggestive of geranium (not pungent, nicely flowery). When all is poured out, some yeasty flavours slot right in under the hops and beef them up along with joining the beer together nicely, but they need beefing up (and so I recommend pouring it all in) because it's a broad, thick, powerful malt that holds centre stage for this one, Hints of chocolate, but more toffee and particularly more dough, it fills you up - one of these may well be enough, and that's no bad thing. I won't say it's unbalanced, because I know it's not, but just for my taste, I'd like this bitter to be a bit more...bitter. Still, it's undeservedly obscure for a one-time Supreme Champion Beer of Britain, so I'd like to see more of these on supermarket shelves. Make no mistake, a bottle of this would go down a treat on a picnic to the Lake District. Fairly complex, but the warning stands - not likely to be the one for you if you like your bitters to be primarily bitter.
3.5 Bottle in trade with dantomlinson, thx Sir 2019-12-12 Göteborg AR: bitter, bread, dry grass AP: clear coppery, wee thin deminishing semi white head F: dry, bitter, bread, wee thin, dry grass
3.4 $3.99 pint+ bottle, WW. Hazy honey-gold with a dusting of a head. Floral hops, light citrus. Flavor is orange peel, black tea, brown grasses and leaf.
2.9 Pours hazy gold with a white head. Light malt, bread, hay, mild hops. Easy to drink.
3.2 Thanks dantomlinson for sharing! Clear amber/golden body with a small, foamy and persistent white head. Aroma is bread crust and grassy hops. Taste is malty, mineral with pleasant bitter grassy hops notes. Long dry and mineral finish. Medium body, soft carbonation, thin texture.
3.5 From bottle in hourglass. Pours near clear gold, w/thin, fleeting head. Soft aroma of biscuit malt, floral/fruity hops. Quite smooth and quaffable, light bitterness in the finish, eminently sessionable in the British Bitter tradition
4.2 Nicely styled session, after a bigger Bell's Two-hearted. Still, a full palate of flavor complexity, floral & mineral, nice weight w/o heaviness, fleeting choc/caramel, steely malt evident and citric hops grab the edges. Pleasing, balanced, hints of Brett, supple tannin evident in the lingering finish. Nice to have a "Brit" beer, full but not so aggresive.
2.4 Fortunately I only bought one bottle to try based on the hype of Camra awards etc , unfortunately for me it smells just like baby wipes and women’s perfume ,way too fruity for me on smell and with a sickly after taste . Not really as I know a Bitter to be. It has more of an Pale Ale vibe to it . I don’t want to be unkind as it’s obviously well liked and regarded but I feel like you could be disappointed if your looking specifically for easy drinking , no nonsense Bitter . This one is amped up and dressed up in sweetness and perfume . Doesn’t feel sessionable either , I feel by the second one I would be tapping out from sweetness overload . Maybe in a different context, like a warm Saturday in July , in a beer garden it would go down differently but picked up from Asda in the middle of March to drink indoors on a dark Sunday it just doesn’t work for me.
4.0 Aroma of bread/biscuit, slightly spicy/pepper, fruit, grass. Feel has moderate body. A bit hazy, orange/amber. Short white head that dissipates quickly in a bubbly ring and patchy cap. Taste is very British ale... lightly herbal, earthy, biscuit, lemon, with the hops adding just the right amount of bittering in the middle and into the clean and dry finish. Very pleasant English pale ale aftertaste. Takes me back to the English midlands! (Yes, I know Coniston is not in the midlands... but the midlands is where I first experienced an English bitter.) Even though the bottled imported version is likely not up to the pub cask experience, this is a wonderfully done English bitter.
3.8 500ml bottle from Morrisons Penrith. Pours clear golden amber with a small off white head. Aroma is quite tart, some gooseberry, citrus and grape. Taste is similar up front, but then some bready, caramel malts hit the mouth followed by a decent grapefruit bitterness. Great water quality on this one. I can see why it won an award, tasty brew. Would buy again !
2.6 Pours clear amber with ruby tint and a two-finger, off-white head. Aroma is light dried fruit and hops. Taste is light plum, moving to roast and a building hop backbone. Finish is bitter hops.
3.4 Bottle pours amber with a white head. Aroma is earthy, bread and some toffee. Taste is yeast , grains and earthy.
3.7 Very nice pleasantly bitter ale. Aromas of grapefruit, orange. Appearance dark amber color. Taste is very smooth, fruity, lovely bitter. A bit watery otherwise highly drinkable.
3.6 Pours a clear dark golden with average carbonation. Spicy hop aromas dominate alongside aromas of toasted malts and hints of fruit and caramel. Taste is very crisp and refreshing; spicy hop bitterness is there but it's very clean and the beer is very delicate and refreshing. Enjoyable English Bitter. A long time since I first tried this; great to revisit.
3.5 zapach niespecjalnie intensywny, słody, lekki karmel, trochę przypieczonego chleba, zioła, kwiaty, lekkie słodkie owoce, odrobina kaszy gryczanej i przypraw w tle. kolor miedziany, klarowny, piana biała, raczej skąpa ale stara się być trwała. w smaku rześkie, dość lekkie ale nie wodniste, lekko podpieczony chleb, odrobina jasnego karmelu, miła piwnica, sporo tytoniu, przypraw, odrobina ziemi i gorzkie zioła i rośliny z nutą słodkich owoców i geranium. goryczka dość spora jak na styl, ziołowa, czysta, krótka i przyjemna. nasycenie dość wysokie.
3.6 Shared bottle at Cardinal, Stavanger. Pours clear golden with off-white head. Aroma of flowers, fruits, bread, some caramel. Tastes slightly sweet with balancing bitterness. Thin bodied.
2.8 Pours a light amber from a tap, rich toasted aroma and somewhat oily buttery flavor and mouth feel. Okay beer.
5.0 Ah this is really nice; bitter was the dominant style when I first started drinking, and even then (twenty years ago) this was exemplary, fortunately it still is. Gentle fruitiness from the malt ,floral hops come through appreciably without dominating. The bottle conditioned yeast really adds to the flavour and the live freshness is much appreciated; For this reason I allways find its better to pour this in one, in a pint glass;if you have it in a half glass you really notice the difference in taste/finish the tiny yeast residue gives. Top draw.
3.6 From Oct 2005 Pours a nice gold with a small head that dissipated quickly. The smell is quite fruity and malty; a sign of good things to come. The taste is also fruity with maybe a lemony note in the background but up front, it's about the malt. A very drinkable English Bitter, it's one of my favourites of the style.
3.2 Bottle. (Brief tasting notes and rating from old records) - Heavily hopped ale with intense spicy hop character and soft malty fruitiness. Very drinkable. (Backlog)
3.5 Hazy , copper color . One finger thick, white head. Aroma of toasted bread, caramel with faint metallic/mineral notes. Moderate malty sweetness. Bitter and astringent finish.
3.3 From the bottle marked F-18-104. Attractive looking unfiltered amber pour with a modest off-white head that fades. The aroma is traditional but muted British bitter with a caramel malt sweet sensation. The body falls into the light t medium range. The sweetness really exemplifies itself in the flavor I will say. Loads of caramel, perhaps honey (?), and a clean, dry finish. It’s a bitter alright.
3.8 Ar: Bready malt, pineapple, and some slight figs; chalk and mossy hops; a touch of tangy caramel. Ap: Bright and orange; medium-small light tan head with moderate-low retention, leaving a web of suds around the cap. T: Fresh grain and biscuit; steely hop bitterness, with a clean mossy flavor; some medium caramels; very little sweetness; apple and light peach; full toastiness mid-palate; just a touch of butter; chalk and bitterness carry the beer to a finish. P: Medium-light body with medium-high carbonation; finish is dry. O: A pleasure of an English bitterness; fresh, bright, and full of malt flavor; hops are present but supporting; eminently drinkable.
3.4 Nogle synes den tradionelle britiske bitter/ale er lidt kedelig. Denne her øl hører til katagorien. Om den er kedelig, er en smags sag, men en god sommer øl
3.3 Aroma is mild caramel malt and english esters. Appearance is light copper and crystal clear. Almost no head. Taste is well balanced between light caramel and a firm bitterness. A bit of floral and tangy hops. Palate is light and crisp.
3.3 Rating from bottle collection/historic notes. Bottle, source not noted. Poured a hazy, amber colour with a small white head. Aroma of caramel, fruit and bread. Moderate sweetness, fairly high bitterness. Medium body, light texture. Bitter finish.
3.4 Bottle from Beers of Europe. Appearance - deep amber with a nice fluffy head. Nose - lemon zest, biscuits and a slight metallic note. Taste - more lemon zest. Cola. Metallic again. Palate - light bodied with a crunchy texture and a long dry minerally finish. Overall - solid.