Coniston Bluebird Bitter

esprit · Post by **esprit** » Sat Mar 16, 2002 11:08 am

Here's the text of Stephen Beaumont's review of this beer available exclusively at Smokeless Joe's. This was just posted on his World of Beer website:

Coniston Bluebird Bitter - March 2002
In August of 1998, I sat at a table in a warm room in London's Olympia and evaluated beers in the category of 'standard bitter.' The occasion was the 21st Great British Beer Festival, and the six ales poured for me and my fellow panelists were finalists in their class. The moment we reached the fifth of these unnamed brews, however, the competition might as well have been over. What we were tasting was without doubt the class of its style, and as it turned out, also that year's Champion Beer of Britain. It was Coniston Bluebird Bitter.

So it was quite understandable that I was thrilled to recently find bottled Bluebird at a downtown Toronto beer and blues joint called Smokeless Joe's. It wasn't in the regular beer menu, just chalked on a board at the entry, and it was pricey. But I didn't care, it was my next beer ordered.

The ale served to me was so good that I forced everyone at my table to taste it, even the ones nursing head colds, and they all reacted positively. So enthusiastic was their response, in fact, that I had to almost wrestle back my glass. It was one of those rare occasions when I didn't have a notebook with me, so I made no tasting notes on the Bluebird, and frankly didn't care. This was beer enjoyment at its most elemental, and sketching descriptives would have only hindered the experience. Produced under contract by the Oxfordshire brewery Brakspear, Coniston Bluebird is about as good a bottled best bitter as you're likely to find on either side of the Atlantic.

Copyright 1997 - 2000 © - Stephen Beaumont
Stephen Beaumont reserves all rights that pertain to the text of his articles, in any form that it appears.

joey_capps · Post by **joey_capps** » Sat Mar 16, 2002 12:10 pm

A curious Coniston confluence. After agonizing over the menu at Joe's for 1/2 an hour on Monday, I randomly picked Bluebird Bitter, knowing absolutely nothing about it. My only consideration was that I wanted something with a relatively low alcohol content (i.e., not Bush).

Cheer, Joe.

PS I also didn't have a notebook with me. So no notes.

Mississauga Matt · Post by **Mississauga Matt** » Wed Apr 03, 2002 7:47 pm

Shows how much I know. I avoided Joe's for years because I thought everything he had was from the LCBO general listing.

I stopped in at Joe's for the - yikes! - $10.25 500mL bottle of Bluebird Bitter. My immediate impression was this is dry-hopped cask-conditioned ale in a bottle. Which I guess is an oxymoron. But it is bottle-conditioned, so it's the next best thing.

This is a delicious beer. All hop heads will love it.

According to the label "The intense resinous and spicy hop character is derived from the use of unusual quantities of English Challenger hops ... the malt, of course, (is) Maris Otter [Crystal and Pale]..."

My only complaint is that it was served at Labatt Blue temperatures, so I spent the whole time with my hands around the glass, trying to warm up its contents.

Joe also has (bottle-conditioned) Brakspear Vintage Henley at $10.25, and I think Brakspear Strong Ale at $6 - $7.

Joe sells Hop Devil for $9.75.

And the S.O.B. is obviously the guy who swiped all the Celebrator Dopplebock right out from under my nose. Well at least I know where I can find it. Sigh.