Fuller’s Vintage Ale 1998

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

Serve in English pint, Snifter

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No: 31867. Heavy malt, dark fruity aroma. Not as thick on the palate as I expected but maintains drinkability alongside its smooth texture. Malts from start to finish, port-like flavors, yeasty with some dryness. Maraschino cherries add extra sweetness with a lingering jammy aftertatse while a considerable alcohol warmth wraps things up.

Bottle #40415. Deep copper-amber in colour, long lasting beige head, great lace. The aroma still has lots of caramel, some ginger, wood, earth and chocolate. The flavour was peaking, caramel malt sweetness, christmas cake, dark fruits, brown sugar abd raisins. Think mouthfeel, medium body, medium carbonation, Finishes with a lingering bitterness, creamy.

Garnet color; Head that stays very rocky and clings frantically to the glass; deep, sweet malt aroma. All the hops are gone from this beer after three years in the cellar. No subtlty at all, just unadulterated malt sweetness in your face. Almost like drinking chocolate milk. Warming in the tummy and definitely worth the wait.

another gem from kawa. pours amber with a white head. aroma is plums and alcohol. upfront flavor is peppery with some sweetness and an interesting caramel. wonderful palate that is almost woody but not quite. this caresses my tongue. sorry we made you try the gose after you brought this great beer walt.

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!

Bottle. More perfumey than the 97. Taste notes of burnt wood, tannins, honey, and bitter on the back end. Very good.

Drank as a vertical tasting with ’98, ’99, ’00, ’01 and ’03 Vintage Ales. 1998 was the "tired" one of the bunch. Great dark brown appearance with solid tan head. Toffee, sweet fruit and caramel flavors. I’d say this one was a bit off when it came to flavor and a bit past its prime. Needless to say thanks for Eyedrinkale for supplying the Fullers for the vertical tasting.

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.

Since it winds up being the case - just putting in a repitition of my rating for the 1997 - I'm sure that I haven't done anything to be noted here for my intelligence and now to add to it all I have to say that I could have put more of these away rather than having had most of them when they came off the shelf. I suppose there was a slight reason - One, that I liked it despite being able to tell that it could easily improve with age, and the other was simply the price - I spent money that I really didn't have at he time and wanted immediate satisfaction. Now I'm paying for it in another way by seeing how this has improved. Yes, all the comments about plums, dates, figs ... there's just so much there. Damn!

Pours a slightly murky color of ruddy amber with a full layer of creamy beige head. Fruity aroma thats saturated with an incense of strawberry sorbet, and sherried raisins. Fantastic sweetened fruit sugars that melt together like a delicate whipping cream rather than a concentrated syrup. Medium bodied, crisply carbonated mouthfeel that shows absolutely no signs of unpleasant aging. Remarkable. There’s even a little British hops spice left to kiss the tongue at first contact. Reddish to dark fruity flavors that land somewhere between raisins and strawberries. A little brush of pepper spice tickles the tongue as well. Creamy flavors that remind me of a whipped strawberry yogurt without the lactic traits. A touch of brandy and a brush of toasted oak without the dryness. Some strawberry rhubarb pie, lacking sourness, and finishing with a final smack of hops and wood, making their presence known softly. Amazingly constructed brew.