Fuller’s Vintage Ale 1998

Formerly brewed at Fuller’s
Style: English Strong Ale
London, England

Serve in English pint, Snifter

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

Bottle. Imbibed 2008. Red, purple, brown with a small head. Aromas are bready and yeasty with soft berries and bubblegum. Some raisins and chocolate, too. Flavours are sweet caramel and toffee malts with chocolate and raisins. Smooth, rich and vinous with warming alcohol. Very peppery on the finish. Very good.

A Mes rate: Bottle at the Tom’s awesome Twickenham Brewery tasting.
I’m not gonna rattle on about the vintage ale as we all know what it’s like. At ten years old this had mellowed and the ingredients had married really well. There was an odd minty note in the aroma and it was slightly oxidised in the mouth but other than that it’s still going pretty well even though it is nearing the end of it’s life.

Pours copper with a thin white ring around the edge of the glass. Smells of oak, earthy, some tea, touches of sweet malt. Tastes of toffee, some sugary hints, spicy, lots of earthiness. Unfortunately, this did not live up to the excellent 1997 bottle.

080216-Fullers ’98 Vintage Ale–18.6 oz bottle @Vero Beach Throwdown-pours a ring of an off white head and copper color. Aroma is medium malt-caramel, woody/earthy hops, dark fruit, esters. Taste is medium malt-caramel, woody/earthy/spicy hops, dark fruit, esters. Occasional. Thanks for sharing-TheCheeseMan.

Courtesy TheCheeseMan. Very hazy brown pour. Nice strong aroma of dried fruit. Very nice fruity, caramelley, brown sugar flavor that covers the abv nicely. Hints of sweetness. Mouthfeel and carbonation are good as well. Nice beer that is very complex. thanks Dan

Courtesy TheCheeseMan. 10 years old! Bottle #27359. The cloudy, muddy, medium-brown body with a thin bubbly edge really isn’t much to look at, but who cares when you’re talking about a decade old brew as nice as this one. The aroma shows sweet caramel malts, sweet dark fruits, brown sugar, and copious amounts of vanilla. This one smells like Tahitian vanilla beans have been steeped in the dark liquid all this time. The flavor is quite sweet, with caramel and brown sugar malts showing strong. There are still some flowery hops left within, which is surprising given its age. The medium-full, syrupy body is well carbonated and smooth. Good stuff. This has aged incredibly gracefully.

Bottle... VBWT2008... Cloudy, caramel-colored ale with a small, creamy, white head. Aged with grace! Toffee nose is enhanced by fuzzy fruit and vinous esters with just a hint of a smoke phenol. Full-bodied, but dry with light carbonation. Sweet, vinous malts. Barely hopped, but adequately bitter. Bittersweet, vinous finish. TheCheeseMan bringeth!

The Cheeseman brings the noise with another Fullers Vintage. Cloudy copper color with a thin blanket of white head. Sweet candy corn aroma, sweet malts. Mild malt taste, sweet middle and dry finish. Rich and tasty, but really starts to knock on the door of cloying.

TheCheeseman strikes again! Pours a dark amber, with a smallish off white head. Smells of apples, caramel malts, and some bready yeast. Still sharp in the nose. Good sign. The flavor had soft carbonation as expected with its age, still pretty sweet. The caramel and dark fruits made up most of the flavor characters, and it had a great smoothness to it that helped drink nice and easy. This has held up well, not surprising coming from a great English brewery. Thanks for sharing this rare brew Dan!

Aroma is big bright fruit and sherry. Sweet and sugary with ripe, full fruit. Taste is oxidized, full sweet fruitiness with loads of sweet caramelized malt. I can hardly describe how yummy this is. Actually, this reminds me a lot of the Yona Barleywine. I get touches of heat, some hoppy bitterness. This is rich, deep and complex. Lots of crisp hop and fruit. Very, very good. This has aged gracefully and could go on for a few more years, but not too many more. This is cloyingly sweet, dense red fruit, cloying caramelized malt, and slight hop bite. I really like this beer a lot.