Fuller’s 1845

Brewed by Fuller’s
Style: English Strong Ale
London, England

Serve in English pint, Trappist glass

Powerful full complex malty woody taste. Aftertaste keeps going for a long time. The bottle that I had on 12/17/01 had a best before date of 5/12/02.

After consuming the Cropton’s, this was a welcome reminder of just how good an English Strong Ale can be. Aroma of caramel. Flavor is a match, but it is a wonderfully deep, exotic, lush, rich caramel, with a faint note of fudge ripple running through it. A bit of bitterness on the finish dries things out nicely, keeping it from getting cloying. Really a great beer.

Pours a brown color with a big head that eventually settles to a film. As the head drops, it leaves some nice lacing on the way down. Aroma is fruity and toasty. Mild mellow flavor. Has some sweet esters. A very smooth medium to full bodied beer. A must try.

Deep garnet in color, the head is creamy and beige, the lace covers the glass well. Nose is malt, caramel, slightly sweet. Start is malt sweet, the middle is medium to full, the finish is ’Hop heaven’, dry, acidic and moderate carbonation tops off this ’Most Excellent’ strong English Ale.

Initially has the appearance of a raspberry ale though it takes on a more amberish hue. Nice cream head and highly carbonated as small bubbles cling all over the glass. For the first 10 minutes or so, the beer had a chlorinated taste/mouthfeel. After considerable warming, the qualities of this beer seem to unwind. Subtle honey malt fragrance and a light malt spicing in flavor (a tad skunky/mildewy) at first. This beer has a dryish finish and has the feel of a red ale/esb--I am not certain what English Strong Ale qualities this beer can be said to have.

Very interesting beer. More subtle, I think, than the ESB. Where the ESB hits you with it’s full chewy maltiness, the maltiness in this beer is more subdued and you’re actually slammed by the bitterness the first couple of sips. As you get used to the bitterness, you’ll start to notice the sweet maltiness (although this is still more subdued than in the ESB) A little later especially after the beer warms up, you’ll start to notice some toffee notes starting to mix with the maltiness and slightly citric bitterness. I even noticed the occasional slight hint of banana, but I’m not sure if I wasn’t just tasting things.

Beautiful ruby-amber colour with a thick & lacey off-white head. Aroma is sweet, treacly, malty & warm. Soft, luscious mouthfeel. Flavour is big and malty to start, leading into dried fruit and spice notes, and a well bittered finish. Fantastic stuff - if it’s this good out of the bottle, I can only imagine how amazing the cask version must be!

500ml Bottle - Copper with red tinges and a tan head. Fruity and malty aroma with raisins and marzipan. Rich, fruity and vinous taste with hints of alcohol, raisins and fruitcake, followed by a bittersweet finish.