Fullers Vintage Ale 2001

With sincere thanks to HogTownHarry for sharing this vintage with me on his balcony pre-ballgame :-) Appearance: Beautiful pink orange with a small off white head. Aroma: Lovely caramel, malt orange, pineapple, quite tropical. Flavour: Toffee, Christmas pudding, alcohol, lots of oak, hops and a nice oak finish.

Bottle #14698. Medium amber and brown, with a slightly sticky tan head. Beautiful aromas of raisin, prune, port, cinnamon and sugar cookie. Winelike palate, little carbonation, medium dry finish. A nice sipping beer. As the beer oxidized, however, the honeyed, jammy flavors subsided and took on a papery characteristic.

1pt. 2.6oz bottle. # 21218. Definite notes of cardboard oxidization. Honey malt, maple syrup, molasses... overripe dark berries. A touch of alcohol. Fairly simple and straightforward... other than the slight oxidization, this one has held up well. Pours a hazed dark amber with a nice sized off white head. Flavor has held up quite well. The hops are pretty much gone, but the malt profile is still quite nice. Toffee, caramel, dark fruits, cinnamon and nutmeg (?)... a definite spice presence. Medium bodied, carbonation is still alive, with a toasty, caramel and malty finish. Thanks Eugene!

2001? A beer Odyssey? Hard to imagine a better way to celebrate another century of ratings. Pours dark copper, full tan head, gorgeous. Nose of honey, toffee, hops and malt. Wonderful. Taste of sweet caramel, ginger and maybe clove, malts, and hops, with a long hop and spice finish. Also wonderful. Hard to imagine a better British Ale. But who cellars a beer for 7 years?

Pours copper with a thin white head. Smells of caramel, honey, some toffee, hints of fruit, spice, earthy. Tastes earthy with some nice spicy hints, sweet caramel, minor fruit presence, hints of citrus. Enjoyable.

Sampled at Delilah’s Vintage Strong Ale fest. Sampled along with the 99, 00, 04, and 05. Pours copper with an off white head. The nose is sweeter than the others. Toffee, brown sugar, caramel, dough, apples, oranges. Caramel toffee malt flavors that are fruity and slightly sour. Finishes with burnt anise notes, alcohol, and spice. This one was really fruity compared to the others, and that isn’t a good thing. Not into this one as much as the 99, 00, or 04.

2/23/08, bottle samples of vintages 99,00,01,04, and 05. similar to 00 but a little more sweet red and dark fruits in this one while the finish was a bit sour doughy. enjoyed this vintage the least.

500 ml. brown bottle. Part of a vertical tasting held for my close friends. This year’s vintage has aged better than the 1999 for some reason. Maybe it was handled better? Poured out a dark copper color, with a minimal tan head. Aromas are mostly malts, some earthy hops way off in the background. Flavors are all malts, some oak barrel & vanilla here also. Thick & chewy mouthfeel. Finished slightly sweet.