Coniston No. 9

12 month & 6 month old versions
Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Coniston No. 9 [baron rating 5/5] - 8.5% copper ale,boozy Cointreau smell,very balanced juicy fruity citrus peachy taste,slick fading finish Baron Orm

Listen to what Chris, Baron, Stephen & Leigh have to say about it

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Thank you to Ian Bradley (@ConistonBrewCo) from Coniston Brewery for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Coniston ales from Holborn Ales

Coniston XB

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Coniston XB [baron rating 4/5] - 4.4% copper ale,mild sweet peachy citrus smell,refreshing creamy bitter citrus taste,bready bitter finish Baron Orm

Thank you to Ian Bradley (@ConistonBrewCo) from Coniston Brewery for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Coniston ales from Holborn Ales

Coniston Bluebird Bitter

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Coniston Bluebird Bitter [baron rating 4/5] - 4.2% copper ale,mild flinty sulphurous smell,balanced caramel sultana taste,dry peppery finish Baron Orm

Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it

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Thank you to Ian Bradley (@ConistonBrewCo) from Coniston Brewery for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Coniston ales from Holborn Ales

Coniston Old Man Ale

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Coniston Old Man Ale [baron rating 4/5] - 4.8% dark amber ale,raisin plum smell,fruitcake nutty classic bitter taste,nutty bitter finish Baron Orm

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Coniston Oliver's Light Ale

Not bottle conditioned

Coniston Oliver's Light Ale [baron rating 4/5] - 3.4% gold ale,mild sugary citrus smell,zingy citrus mild bitter taste,light citrus finish Baron Orm

Thank you to Ian Bradley (@ConistonBrewCo) from Coniston Brewery for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Coniston ales from Holborn Ales

Coniston Original India Pale Ale

Not bottle conditioned

Coniston Original India Pale Ale [baron rating 5/5] - 6% copper ale,floral peachy smell,balanced fruity bitter taste,fading tropical finish Baron Orm

Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it

Subscribe in iTunes

Thank you to Ian Bradley (@ConistonBrewCo) from Coniston Brewery for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Coniston ales from Holborn Ales

Coniston Thurstein Pilsner

Not bottle conditioned

Coniston Thurstein Pilsner [baron rating 5/5] - 4.8% gold beer,grassy sweet lemon smell,biscuity bitter lemon taste,bittersweet zingy finish Baron Orm

Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it

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Thank you to Ian Bradley (@ConistonBrewCo) from Coniston Brewery for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Coniston ales from Holborn Ales

Holborns Ale Tasting Night in Ormskirk on Thursday 18th April

I've teamed up with Holborn Ales in Ormskirk to offer a bottled ale tasting night on Thursday 18th April 2013. For £10 (per person) you will get to try half a bottle of six carefully selected ales picked by myself as well as some nibbles to keep the beer munchies at bay. I'll introduce each beer, guide you through sampling it and you'll get a chance to provide Holborns with your opinion in the form of a group 'baron rating'.

group 'baron rating' bowls, ready for the 'votes' (marbles)

The beers that I've selected are:

• Hobsons Twisted Spire
• Wincle Sir Philip Bank Top Dark Mild
  
• Hawkshead Lakeland Gold
• Salopian Darwin's Origin
• Coniston Special Oatmeal Stout
• Windsor & Eton Conqueror

Tickets are available from Holborn Wines (Malt House Business Park, Ormskirk) which is in the same area as Alladin's Cave (the fancy dress shop). The evening will be hosted in La Cantina which is opposite Holborn Wines and provides a very pleasant atmosphere to be drinking and chatting.

Doors open at 7:30 for an 8pm start and there might even be a little something for you to sip whilst we wait for everyone to arrive.  You should also be able to buy bottles to take away of any of the ales that you like.

Tickets are limited so please get yourself down to Holborns to secure your place! If you need any more details then why not contact Holborns direct on 01695 577016, via Twitter @Holborncaskales or message them via their Facebook page.

Hope to see you there!

Update: The evening was a great success and hopefully was a bit of an eye-opener for some about the range of ales that are out there. Everyone was game to take part in my group baron rating so here are the results:

Beer	1/5	2/5	3/5	4/5	5/5
Hobsons Twisted Spire	0	6	7	4	1
Bank Top Dark Mild	0	4	7	7	0
Hawkshead Lakeland Gold	1	3	3	8	2
Salopian Darwin's Origin	2	0	1	8	5
Coniston Special Oatmeal Stout	0	6	2	3	5
Windsor & Eton Conqueror	2	1	5	3	5

Coniston Infinity IPA

Not bottle conditioned

Coniston Infinity IPA [baron rating 5/5] - 6% amber ale,tropical fruit salad smell,sweet tropical spicy bitter taste,fruity bitter finishBaron Orm

Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it

Subscribe in iTunes

Thank you to Ian Bradley (@ConistonBrewCo) from Coniston Brewery for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Coniston ales from Holborn Ales

Coniston Special Oatmeal Stout

Not bottle conditioned

Coniston Special Oatmeal Stout [baron rating 5/5] - 4.5% black ale,vineous liquorice smell,smooth bitter mocha taste,dry bitter choc finish Baron Orm

Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it

Subscribe in iTunes

Thank you to Ian Bradley (@ConistonBrewCo) from Coniston Brewery for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Coniston ales from Holborn Ales

Looking forward to baron rating Coniston ales

The Lake District is not that far from Ormskirk and I scuba-dived in Lake Coniston a while back (don't waste your time, it's dark and silty and you see nothing) so when Coniston Brewery offered some samples I though it would be rude not to accept them ;) I wasn't quite expecting the parcel that arrived though as I'd only ever seen 2-3 of the bottled beers that they produced:




Coniston Brewing Company

• Bluebird Bitter - 4.2% fine session ale with a light golden colour. The intense resinous and spicy hop character is derived from English Challenger hops. The malt is Maris Otter fermented slightly warm to give a soft fruitiness with a faint hint of scented geranium
• Infinity IPA - 6% highly hopped pale ale, refreshing, crisp & sharp with a lingering bitter finish. Brewed with pale Maris Otter malts and Mount Hood, Challenger, Golding & Amarillo hops
• No.9 Barley Wine - 8.5% GBBF winner, brewed once a year this classic strong golden beer has a long maturation period to give a smooth and warming character. A delightful sipping beer. Rich fruit flavours with marzipan, herbal hoppiness and Cognac overtones finishing with a warming alcohol essence. The residual sweetness is balanced by a large amount of best English Golding hops
• Oliver's Light Ale -3.4% light straw coloured, easy drinking mild, subtly hopped with Whitbread's Golding variety hop and brewed using only the finest malt and a generous amount of demerara sugar

• Original India Pale Ale - 6% rich amber coloured beer with a rich taste to match a superb balance of malts and hops making a classic style IPA. Brewed with Challenger & Goldings hops
• Special Oatmeal Stout - 4.5% Oats are used in the grist to give body and smoothness, enhancing the roasted barley, giving it complex flavours reminiscent of dark chocolate and coffee. This is balanced by a fresh hop bitterness and dry silky finish
• Thurstein Pilsner - 4.8% Pilsner style lager using 100% German Hallertau hops and best quality pale malt and wheat to give an authentic crisp clean continental style beer
• XB Bluebird Bitter - 4.4% fine English pale ale with American Mount Hood thrown in for some robust citrus aromas

Ian also threw in a No.9 t-shirt and a Coniston mug - why don't more breweries do this? I've a ton of brewery-branded glasses but this is my first mug...

Look out for 'baron ratings' of these beers soon, and a big thank you to Ian Bradley (@ConistonBrewCo) from Coniston Brewery for sending these through to me!

Coniston Bluebird Bitter

Coniston Bluebird Bitter [baron rating 3/5] - 4.2% copper ale,bitter apple aroma,fresh but thin bitter taste & gentle bitterness to finishBaron Orm