Bottle conditioning is a tricky proposition for large breweries. We’re dealing with a living product here, one susceptible to all kinds of hazards, from brewhouse hygiene inadequacies to trade and customer ignorance that leads to bad storage and service.

Reputations go on the line with this kind of beer far more than with safe, if rather predictable, pasteurized options, and big breweries have a lot to lose.

It’s been left largely to the smaller brewers to make the running with what CAMRA now calls real ale in a bottle. Thanks to their efforts, as my own Good Bottled Beer Guide reveals, there are now around 1,300 bottle-conditioned beers produced in the UK.

The regional brewers have been mostly happy to sit and watch this revival, letting smaller producers make the mistakes and learn the lessons, but a few – Fuller’s and Young’s, for instance – put their heads on the block and decided to join the revival some time ago. The success they have achieved has now encouraged others to follow.

What bottle conditioning offers the bigger brewery is the chance to shine. When done properly, this is clearly the best way of bottling beer. Living yeast not only adds freshness and complexity to the drink, but helps keep the beer free from oxidation and those dull, papery notes of staleness that ruin so many, otherwise well-brewed, beers.

Increasingly, therefore, regional brewers are using this process for packaging some of their very best beers. Brewers are being liberated from the strictures laid down by nervous marketing departments and can now set out to create beers that will showcase their talents to the full.

Hence we now have such beers as 1698 from Shepherd Neame, Triple from Brakspear, Imperial Extra Double Stout from Harveys, Hen’s Tooth from Greene King and Yorkshire Stingo from Sam Smith’s.

The latest major brewer to venture down the bottle conditioning road is Wadworth. The last such product the Devizes brewers turned out was a very interesting dark, strong ale for the Millennium celebrations. That was bottled for them by Gale’s. The new beer is packaged by Hepworth & Co., which has rapidly made a name for itself as a specialist bottling firm.

The beer in question is Wadworth’s long-standing winter warmer, Old Timer. It is only available on draught in November and December, so the bottle extension will please those who regret its passing come the New Year.

At 5.8%, Old Timer has enough alcohol to deal with the stresses of the bottle conditioning process. Weaker beers tend to dry out and become too gassy, but stronger beers not only retain much of their body but also have the clout to see off any unwanted infections that can plague living beer.

The beer in the bottle is essentially the same as the cask brew, except that the yeast that you’ll find stuck to the bottom is, in fact, an old Brakspear strain in use at Hepworth. The everyday Wadworth yeast, which is used for primary fermentation, just would not have behaved so well in the bottle.

If you’ve ever tasted draught Old Timer, you’ll certainly know what to expect, as this, to me, is a very close emulation of the draught beer (perhaps this is because my sample bottles are still on the young side with low carbonation; they will  kick up a bit more gas in coming weeks).

Shades of dark copper in the glass reveal the inclusion of a small percentage of crystal malt alongside pale, an impression reinforced by the first toasty, nutty, biscuity aromas that are so familiar from various other Wadworth beers.

There’s also a light floral note to the nose, as well as suggestions of banana and pear drop, indicative of the strength and the esters created by the yeast during fermentation.

The taste has the same rich, nutty malt characteristics, with hop presence reined back to just providing some countering bitterness. A few flowery suggestions from the esters, perhaps even verging on almond notes, waft around the palate.

Dryness nibbles away and continues into the finish, where hops slowly build and turn things firmly bitter. Those hops are as traditionally English as you can get, with Fuggles doing sterling work in the copper and Goldings adding a finishing flourish in the hop back.

Despite the fullness of the malt, this is a beer that really doesn’t drink its true strength. It could easily pass for a 4.5% brew, and such a lightness of touch is another hallmark of bottle conditioning.

At the moment, the beer is frighteningly gluggable, and could perhaps use a little more complexity, but how things develop over time will be fascinating to see, with both malt and hops characteristics changing as the beer ages.

I’m looking forward to drinking more of this beer young and also tucking some bottles away for a rainy day. It could be an interesting investment.