My friend David came round on Wednesday and I explained to him the concept of sixty years for sixty years. Of course the explanation could not be entirely theoretical, so I provided him with some empirical evidence or to put it another way we sampled a ouple of the beers.
We started with Bluebird from the Coniston Brewery, very appropriate since I had not long been back from the Lake District. This is an award winning bottle conditioned bitter - in fact it was the CAMRA Supreme Champion Beer of Britain in 1998. The label suggests it is best served at 58 degrees in a straight glass at the Black Bull Inn at Coniston, conditions under which I have in fact tasted it. What they forgot to mention though was that you should run the 14.3 miles round the lake first, in order to work up the requisite thirst (as indeed I did). It is a fine session ale (4.2% ABV) with a light golden colour. It uses English Challenger hops, well balanced with Maris Otter malt, and is supposed to have a faint hint of scented geranium, though I can't say I picked it up. The brewery was founded in 1995 by the son of the owner of the Black Bull and the beers use "the pure waters of the Coniston hills". You can find out more at http://www.conistonbrewery.com
We then moved on to Drayman's Best Bitter from the Branscombe Vale Brewery, which we finally established is located near Seaton in Devon. This brewery is a little older, being established in 1992, on the site of an old farm that is now owned by the National Trust. When they started up, they apparently dug their own well! They don't seem to be sophisticated enough to have a web site, but the beer is very nice. It is a bottle-conditioned mid-brown beer with a distinctly hoppy finish, quite a contrast to the Bluebird. No technical details are given but it is 4.2% ABV
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