Old Man Ale
Coniston Brewing Co. Ltd

 

 

Coniston Brewing Co. "Old Man Ale"
16.9 fl. oz. brown glass bottle coded "BBF 13 03 27" and sampled on 12 04 26.
$7.99 @ Lower Merion Beverage, Ardmore, PA

Notes via stream of consciousness: It's poured a clear deep brown colored body with orange highlights beneath a fingers width of yellowed antique-white foam similar to bone or aged ivory. The aroma is malty with some dark caramel and a hint of milk chocolate; fruity with an almost raisin-like character; and tea-like, woody, and subtly spicy/earthy. On to the taste - it's much fuller. The chocolate note is clear, and there's more than raisin to the fruitiness, it has an almost grape syrup note to it. What am I thinking of? It's a kind of grape syrup that you water down and coat Turkish bread with... simit! I don't know if it's just grape or if there's a lot of sugar added but that's the taste I get. There's caramel, a light toastiness, a subtle roastiness, and then there's a kind of cedar-like woodiness and spiciness. There's an herbal note there but I can't put my finger on it. It's kind of like sage but not exactly, and it's a touch floral as well. In the end I get fading grape syrup and dark caramel, wood, spice, herb, flowers, spent orange peel, and a touch of almost smoky roastiness. Once that's passed the bitterness shows clearly but it's not really that bitter. I was going to say that it's surprisingly rich for a lower gravity beer but I just looked at the label and it's 4.8% ABV. For some reason I thought it was lower than that, more like 4.2%. The body is medium and the carbonation level is moderate and seemingly natural. It's quite smooth across the palate. The head retention was pretty good, but the lacing could have been a bit better. It was surprisingly clear but now that I've poured the final bit I can see that there's visible particulate in suspension. All in all I think it's great. It reminds me of quite a few "winter warmers" that I've tasted.
Review #9,484

 

 

Pours a light fizzy head with fair retention, a bit of lacing, mostly clear auburn to slight chestnut brown color

Nose sweet malt, rich sweet toasted brown malts, brown sugar, caramel and toffee notes, fruity yeast esters, herbal UK hops

Taste brings sweet malts again, toasted biscuity toffee, a bit of caramel, coffee, caramel, a little butterscotch, more fruity esters, fair bitterness from more herbal earthy UK hops, not too far off from their ESB, a mild tangy note, semi dry finish with lingering earthy hop bitterness, a touch spicy

Mouth is med bod, med to a bit lighter carb

Overall not bad, like a dark malt version of the ESB, enjoyable

RB transfer

Clear ruby-amber brew with dissipating foam. Modest aroma of grain and bark. Pleasantly spritzy on the tongue with a light body. Slight sweetness and some roasted malt flavor. Aftertaste is more seeds and stems and bitterness. Overall I would call this a very decent Dark Mild if it had less alcohol. Claims to be bottle-conditioned but no trace of sediment. From the 500 ml bottle purchased on the West Coast.

Look: It pours brown with a tan head. Head retention is good.

Smell: It has some bready notes with touches of toffee. There are also some very light spices.

Taste: It has bread flavors with very low toffee. The spices are strong in the taste than in the aroma. There are very low levels of fruitiness in the background.

Feel: It has a medium light body with a moderately bitter aftertaste.

Overall: The beer is easy drinking with some decent flavors. The bitterness with the flavors don't quite mix well together.

Clear amber brown body with a white cap yet plenty of lacing. Nutty malts with grapefruit and grassy hops for the nose. The taste adds a mild english yeast with minor toast. Body is lighter but so smooth, warming and slightly thin, hop and yeast tones are playful atop the malt base

2024-12-20
500ml bottle served in a pint glass. BBF 09 08 25 is printed on the label. Bought it at Full Throttle Bottles last weekend.

Pours dark tea brown with a bit more than a finger of moderately coarse head, settles slowly, leaving a thin dense cap with a thick coarse foamberg (?) slowly receding. Smell is dark bread and yeast, nuts, a little oak, some tea and toffee.

Taste is tea, wood astringence, moderate bready sweetness, some barky nut-paper bitterness, earthy.

Mouthfeel is light, thin, a little on the still side. Overall, it's pretty good -- would like to have it on cask, I think, before I passed any serious judgement.

 

 

It's a very pleasant and subtle English ale. Nothing extremely special about it, just a good honest ale. Certainly not worth the "Award Winning English Ale" claim on the label.

Pour copperish amber, a decent amount of foam. Very smooth, somewhat similar to a very tame version of Newkie Brown / Old Speckled Hen.

At $6 a 0.5L bottle of 4.8% brew, it's one and done for me.

500 ml bottle poured into a nonic pint glass.

L: Coppery brown, clear, 2 finger off-white head has a red hue, foam is bothe creamy and bubbly, leaves lace.
S: Weak nose, malty caramel and nutty aromas.
T: Somewhat tart, fairly dry, bread grain and earthy/woody hops, tobacco, light roast coming at the moderately bitter finish.
F: Medium creamy body with medium carbonation, a little chewy.
O: English in character, easy drinking and enjoyable, on cask please.

you either love beer like this or you hate it, and i love it! so stoked on an earthy malty slightly stale tasting brew in high summer, no really i am! unique and affordable, very authentically english, not enough beer like this in the states, glad this has come around. this smells and tastes ancient, i think its perfectly named. its got a pretty deep amber hue, a high tan head with nice retention, i bet this rages on cask across the pond! such a fantastic expression of english grain in aroma and flavor, nutty and baked, kilned and sweet, fruity like raisin and fig, tobacco and cocoa, some way back roasted bitterness and low end, buried in here but still present, more as it warms, leather and felt, old wood, definite oxidation too but i never mind that much in the english stuff like this, some bittering hops too and an old worldy classic english yeast strain, just perfect for this, probably done quite warm as its real expressive in this, even defining along with the grain layers. this is bready and tastes and feels almost healthy to drink on, i love the low alcohol, the lighter carbonation, and the classic authenticity, would be happy to have one of these anytime. awesome old malty thing! a treat.

Appearance: Clear brown, frothy off white head with very good retention.

Aroma: Earthy, grassy, bread and toast. Light fruitiness

Flavor & Aftertaste: Herbal and spicy.

Mouthfeel: Soft, low carbonation. Full bodied.

Overall: Quite a rich, robust brown ale. Nice soft mouthfeel. Very well balanced between sweet malt, mild bitterness, and herbal spiciness; plus a very pleasant light fruitiness. Bitterness is mild and restrained. The more you drink the more you discover. Like peeling the layers of an onion. Excellent brown ale.

 

500ml bottle from Brewers Haven. Dark, clear amber pour, thin coating of fine foamy head. Light toasty malt aroma, notes of brown bread. Taste is malty, sweet, tobacco. Small bitter bite at the finish, which lingers for a bit. I'd love to try this on cask.

Poured from a bottle into a tulip glass. Medium brown color with with a decent head and good curtain lacing. Nice fruity, malty smell and taste. Earthy bitterness. A bit metallic. Nice with dinner.