4 for £5.....

Aaaaah - my fault for using the forum's "New Posts" facility to see all new posts and not noticing this was in the beer forum :) Sounds good at £1.25 a pop...
 
I've always found Asda to be the, er, 'liveliest' supermarket to visit...I think it has the poorest beer selection of all the big ones, but the £5.00 deal is fantastic. Today I got three Guinness FES and a Coniston Bluebird Bitter (4.2%) which I'm enjoying (brewed with Challenger hops)...I think the bottle conditioning helps this one. I haven't had it for years...A nice bitterness from the hops...Any thoughts on it (is this the only bottle conditioned bitter available in supermarkets)?
 
I think Bluebird is an excellent beer, although the bottle-conditioning can be inconsistent. The cask version was a Camra national champion years ago. I have not had Bluebird for some time and have never seen it in my local Asda. They also do a stronger version with USA hops. I was a bit disappointed with this.

The only other bottle-conditioned bitter available in supermarkets that I can think of is Youngs Bitter, which is stocked by my local Asda
 
I don't think I've seen Youngs Bitter in a Supermarket. It must be regional (down South)...Perhaps the Bluebird Bitter is only available in the North (West).
 
Alan Ball said:
The only other bottle-conditioned bitter available in supermarkets that I can think of is Youngs Bitter, which is stocked by my local Asda
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I can't think of any other bottle conditioned bitters in supermarkets either but I must admit to being a bit out of touch (the benefits of home brewing). However Fuller's Bengal Lancer (IPA) and St Austell Proper Job are both bottle conditioned and in Sainsbo's.
 
I'm sipping a Bengal Lancer now...It's nicely done I think. I had one when it was first released (2010?)...but this is the first since then. Thanks for reminding me. I'm quite interested in beers made with English hops (and bottle conditioned), so I was happy to try this again.
 
I was actually in an Asda for the first time in years yesterday and couldn't resist this offer. There was a really good selection with quite a few beers from breweries within 5 miles. Given that smaller breweries are generally found in specialist shops, I sometimes balk at paying £2.50+ for a basic bitter in bottle. I'd rather taste the beer from cask if we're paying that much. But £1.25 is great.

Brings me to the wider point that I still regard (most) UK bottled beer to be an inferior version of the beer in cask.
 
If you like Bengal Lancer you should like Hook Norton bottle-conditioned IPA which is currently available in Waitrose. I would also recommend the Hook Norton bottle-conditioned Pale Ale at 4.7% in M&S.

Further to the question about bottle-conditioned bitters in supermarkets, M&S do Norfolk Bitter and Yorkshire Bitter.

I tend to agree with Kinley that cask beers are better than bottled beers. I think even bottle-conditioned beers are inferior to the cask versions. Where there may be exceptions to this it is with stronger beers. Standard strength beers are always better on cask.
 
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