Fuller’s Vintage Ale 2002

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

Serve in English pint, Snifter

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Bottle. Straw malty nose. Much less sweetness than the ’99. Very earthy taste that reminds me of the way rabbit food smells. Lots of caramel and smoke. Thanks to maelb and Kevin42 for making this tasting possible.

I didn’t see a bottle number in the usual place here...none for the Golden Jubilee commemorative bottles, apparently. Drinking this reminded me of how I celebrated the Golden Jubilee--with my wife and first daughter, listening to a military band march on Broad Street in Oxford, and then enjoying lemonade and a more traditional brass band play on the lawn at All Souls College--an exceptionally rare treat for anyone to be able to picnic on that beautiful patch of grass. But those memories were too much of a match for this beer, which brought be back to reality with some alcohol notes (though not as effervescent as the 1999 vintage), and hints of body odor, lipstick, and caramel. Orange luminescence and some off-white head. Slightly syrupy, gentle bitterness, and a good toasted quality. Thanks maeib for sending this to Texas!

Amber with an offwhite head. Aroma is great from exotic fruits, a clear maltiness with vanilla and actually some strawberries. Nutty notes and some almond. Flavor is malty, but I find the alcohol too strong to rate this a top beer.

Bottle #15601:
Clear amber in colour with an orange tint & thin off-white head. Aroma of pit fruits, raisins, alcohol, malt and toffee. Full-bodied; Strong sweetness but very mellow-vanilla and oakness are very noticeable. Overall, great to try at this age-it’s almost flawless. I sampled this beer from a 50 cL bottle after the RB party at Founder’s in Alexandria, Virginia at Mike’s (the_beer_god) hotel room on 20-November-2004.

Bottle conditioned - White Horse - Parsons Green London SW6. A mid brown beer with a nice white head. The aroma is thick with juicy hops and creamy alcohol. The taste also has lots of warming alcohol , fruits, nail varnish, perfume and vanilla. The texture is like butterscotch. After a while it does become ’heady’ but it is more than acceptable.

Bottle at the White Horse, Parsons Green, London (as part of their Old Ale festival), with Joeh, Kook and Maeib. Cloudy, bright beer. No head, but a delicious aroma. Sweet, with alcohol warmth throughout, but never in a domineering way. Pin pricks of dryness and vegetable; sugar and cake mixture too. Deliciously blended and excellent.

UPDATED: NOV 28, 2004 #900th rating. Bottle at the White Horse, Parsons Green, London. Sweet and buttery beer. Rich malt, tongue tingling sweetness annoyingly with goldings hops, which i am not a fan of. Bitter acidic finish. Alcohol, alcohol alcohol - it’s not exactly refined but it’s a very nice beer.

UPDATED: SEP 6, 2006 Caramel toffee aroma with a touch of choc and yeast. Brown with small head. Sweet caramel with a yeasty mid and sweet though dry finish. Smooth. Nice. ReRate (-1 Overall): Sweet but balanced with a lovely spiced finish. Very morish.

Nice clear orange brown color with a dense head and nice lacing. Taste is full bodied with a nice sweetness of malts and flavors of vanilla, tea and clove. This stuff is worth the fancy packaging it deserves.

UPDATED: NOV 23, 2004 Bottle # 15601... Poured a caramel color with a very small off white head, with very light lacing on the glass. Aroma of apples, plums, spice, nuts and caramel malts. Taste was more sweet malts and spices, nuts, a tart citrus hoppiness, and a light alcohol.