XB Bluebird Bitter
Coniston Brewing Co. Ltd

XB Bluebird BitterXB Bluebird Bitter
Beer Geek Stats | Print Shelf Talker
From:
Coniston Brewing Co. Ltd
 
England, United Kingdom
Style:
English Pale Ale
Ranked #57
ABV:
4.4%
Score:
83
Ranked #23,755
Avg:
3.66 | pDev: 13.39%
Reviews:
56
Ratings:
91
Status:
Active
Rated:
May 11, 2023
Added:
Mar 03, 2005
Wants:
  1
Gots:
  3
No description / notes.
View: More Beers
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by ghetto90007:
Photo of ghetto90007
Rated by ghetto90007 from California

4.25/5  rDev +16.1%

Sep 16, 2012
More User Ratings:
Photo of ATL6245
Reviewed by ATL6245 from Georgia

3.91/5  rDev +6.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 5 | overall: 3.75
Appearance: Medium Amber, fluffy off white head, good retention

Aroma: Herbal, grassy, with subtle fruity ester

Flavor & Aftertaste: Biscuit and light toast, light stone fruit esters. Low bitterness.

Mouth feel: Soft, low carbonation, medium length finish.

Overall: Tasty, refreshing British Pale Ale. Nice soft mouthfeel with low carbonation. Malt is biscuity with light toast. Funny thing about the hops. Brewery describes the Mt. Hood hops as "robust citrus" aroma. I'm getting nothing but robust herbal and grassy notes - which is exactly what Mt. Hood hops should be like. Go figure. Hard beer to score because it doesn't bowl you over with aroma and bitterness like a lot of American Pale Ales, but it is definitely a pleasant, well crafted beer.
May 11, 2023
 
Rated: 3.75 by trevorpost from Pennsylvania

Mar 16, 2023
 
Rated: 4.4 by Beecham from California

Aug 31, 2022
 
Rated: 3.82 by Chuckdiesel24 from Illinois

Jul 17, 2022
 
Rated: 3.75 by paulish from New York

May 03, 2022
 
Rated: 3.59 by steverx8 from England

Sep 27, 2020
 
Rated: 3.83 by craigbelly from Iowa

Sep 10, 2019
Photo of FBarber
Reviewed by FBarber from Illinois

3.83/5  rDev +4.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Pours a orange-tinged golden color. Completely clear. Thin white head dissipates leaving just a partial splotch of bubbly foam on top of the beer.

Aroma is light and mild with notes of pale malts and some mildly fruity aromas.

Taste is light, with mildly fruity notes coming through, hints of pine and ripe fruit, with a clean pale malt backbone. Flavors and quite simple and yet nicely pleasant.

Feel is light, smooth and session-able. Mild carbonation. finish just kind of dies off quickly.

Overall this is a nice English bitter. Would love to have this on cask, but even in the bottles its a really nicely done example of the style. The American hops are well integrated and do not overtake the style.
May 25, 2019
 
Rated: 3.47 by charlatan from Scotland

Dec 16, 2018
 
Rated: 3.14 by Chico1985 from Massachusetts

Mar 07, 2018
Photo of Sigmund
Reviewed by Sigmund from Norway

3.4/5  rDev -7.1%
look: 4 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
500 ml bottle, from Det Gode Brygg, Sandnes. ABV is 4.4%, Deep golden colour, moderate white head. Surprisingly dull aroma, notes of grain and dust, only the faintest hint of fruity hops. The flavour has a much better presence of hops, notes of citrus and berries. Nice to drink. The finish is not very bitter though.
Jan 24, 2018
 
Rated: 3.54 by shelby415 from Oregon

Jan 23, 2018
 
Rated: 3.68 by Budlum from Maryland

Jul 29, 2017
Photo of puboflyons
Reviewed by puboflyons from New Hampshire

3.71/5  rDev +1.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
From the 500 ml.bottle with a date stamp of F18-103. Sampled on June 27, 2017.

It is a typical looking light to medium amber pour considering the style and a modest, lingering white head. Some floating sediment when you pour the whole bottle in.

The aroma has a caramel and toffee malt sweetness with a vague papery feel and a light, clean crisp grassy hop note.

Light to medium body but creamy, clean and refreshing.

Basically a sweet yet citrus zingy flavor that ends mildly to moderately bitter but overall finishes quite clean. Very typical for this style and I could see myself downing one of these in a traditional British pub.
Jun 28, 2017
 
Rated: 3.5 by MattXT from Virginia

Nov 08, 2016
Photo of StoutHunter
Reviewed by StoutHunter from Michigan

3.79/5  rDev +3.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
I picked up a bottle of Coniston's XB Bluebird Bitter a couple weeks ago for $2.19 at The Lager Mill. I was looking for a new beer to try and I thought I would take a chance on this one, so lets see how it goes. 2015 Vintage. Poured from a brown 11.2 oz bottle into a imperial pint glass.

A- The label is has a nice clean and simple looks and it's not too eye catching. It poured a nice amber orange color that took on more of an amber color when held to the light with a finger and a half worth of bubbly off white head that died down to a thin ring that stayed till the end and it left a little bit of patchy lacing behind. This is a pretty nice looking beer, I have no complaints.

S- The aroma starts off with a slightly higher amount of medium sweetness with a creamy aroma being the first to show up and it leads into some fruity yeast which imparts a slight dark fruit aroma. Up next comes the hops which impart some a little bit of fruity, herbal and citrus rind aromas. This beer has a good aroma, it's unique and I have no complaints.

T- The taste seems to be fairly similar to the aroma, it starts off with a slightly higher amount of medium sweetness with the fruity yeast being the first to show up with some eniglish ale like flavors along with a little bit of a stone fruit like flavor. Up next comes the malts which impart some grainy and sweet malt like aromas and towards the end comes the hops which impart those citrus rind and herbal aspects that I got in the aroma and it had a higher amount of light bitterness with a lemon, stonefruit and slight herbal hop aftertaste. This is a pretty nice tasting beer, there's not off flavors and and the different aspects work well together.

M- Smooth, a little crisp, a little clean, medium bodied wit a lighter amount of medium carbonation. The mouthfeel is nice, but it could use just a little more carbonation.

Overall I thought this was a pretty nice beer and I thought it was a good example of an English Bitter, it had pretty much all the aspects that I look for in the style and I ended up enjoying it. This beer had nice drinkability, I could drink a couple of these. What I like the most about this beer is the balance, it was good and just where I want it to be. What I like the least about this beer is the carbonation, it could use just a little more. I would buy this beer again and I would recommend trying it. All in all I was happy with this beer and I thought it was a little unique. It made for a goof first impression for this brewery and I'm interested to try more of their beer and i thought it was a good example of the style. Nice job guys, this is an enjoyable beer.
Dec 30, 2015
Photo of Brutaltruth
Reviewed by Brutaltruth from Ohio

3.69/5  rDev +0.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Enjoyed from the bottle in a pint glass. This fine bitter pours a clear golden amber color with a nice head of white foam that level itself out to a thick ring and thin layer with little lacing. Nose of honeysuckle, light citrus notes of lemon and orange peel, and subtle herbal hops. Flavors follow the nose with sweet light honey to the front and sides that melds to a subtle grain note heading towards the back that culminates in a nice light herbal hops note blended with citrus that lingers long after each sip. Crisp carbonation makes for an easy and lively mouth feel that finishes moderately dry and bitter on the aftertaste. Excellent.

Cheers
Sep 04, 2015
Photo of pat61
Reviewed by pat61 from Minnesota

4/5  rDev +9.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
L: Pours brilliant copper gold under a 2” fluffy white foam collar that produces thick lace. S: Big fruit aromas dominated by plum. T: A rich malt and fruit attack with plum, toffee and caramel pulled together with a refreshing, earthy hop bitterness. F: Very wonderful rich, creamy texture with a medium to medium light body and fine soft medium low carbonation O: the combination of the rich creamy texture, fruit , malty caramel and hop bitterness make this extremely enjoyable and drinkable.
Aug 19, 2015
Photo of RonaldTheriot
Reviewed by RonaldTheriot from Louisiana

3.25/5  rDev -11.2%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
Coniston Bluebird Premium XB has a fairly thick, spongy, off-white head, a cloudy, orange-amber appearance, racing bubble streams, lots of large and tiny tan sediment throughout, and minimal lacing left behind. The aroma is of water, turned fruit, and cellar mold, and the flavor it the same, with the fruits being mango, red preaches, and apricot. White bread is present, but bitterness is quite low, really. Mouthfeel is light to medium, and Coniston Bluebird Premium XB finishes semi-dry and easily gulp-able.

RJT
Jul 21, 2015
XB Bluebird Bitter from Coniston Brewing Co. Ltd
Beer rating: 83 out of 100 with 91 ratings