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 # 23359)Amber with hints of blood red and orange colour. Small white head. Rich deep malty aroma of oak, toffee, caramel and dark fruit. Small undertones, of candied, cherries, pepper and alcohol. Rich chewy malty flavour of almonds, oak, raisin, and dried dark plums with a small port note. Smooth and clean mouthfeel. Raisin, bitter almonds, rum and blue plums in the aftertaste.

Bottled. Purchased by duff at White Horse on Parsons Green. Copper body with a small white head. Aroma is sweet with some grain and rum-soaked fruit notes. Taste is raisiny with alcohol, sweet malts, rum cake and spiced fruits. Body has light carbonation sharpness but is slick and a bit sticky. Finish is sweetened malts, ripe fruit and spice with mild alcohol notes.

Bottle #15605. Nice amber body with a smallish white head. Aroma of hops, malt and caramel with an alcoholic follow up. Barleywine like, sweet with touches of caramel. Hot alcohol finish but pleasantly so. Full bodied but not syrupy. Lingering aftertaste of pleasantly sweet alcohol. Thanks for sharing DuctTape.

Sampled at the White Horse in London, England. Glowing Orange. Enticing aroma. Notes of grapefruit, lemon, apricot, vanilla and caramel. Full-bodied and flavorful but hot down the throat and the cloying syrupy sweetness was just too much. Notes of apricot, tea, tangerine, wood and orange. The hops were nice and sought to balance but failed.

Bottle @ Akkurat, Stockholm. Vertical tasting -97, -00, 02 and -03 with official representatives from the brewery. 3rd one ever held by Fuller’s
In addition to the commersial description First Gold hops were also used, as per Fuller’s head brewer. This is definately more developed than -03. Still, though, has potential for more. Bread, toffee. Soft (don’t want to use the sm**th-word). Quite malty for a vintage beer.

Bottled at the White Horse, Parsons Green. The colour was somewhat difficult to gauge as the pub was so crowded that we had to sit outside in the dark. The aroma didn’t augur well. Malt dominates, but it has a very distinct cereal character and sweetness, that I didn’t find very appealing. However, all was redeemed on the palate. There’s plenty of malty sweetness, but a good dollop of spicy hops counterbalance that nicely. Rich, complex, fruit cake flavours put in an appearance too. Long, dried fruit finish, with the hops lasting the distance. Definitely a beer of two halves. Overall, good, but not outstanding.

Bottle. Glad we finished off the ight with this. The aroma wasn’t so good, with slight hints at maple syrup, smelt like it was going to be too sticky to drink. The palate was very nice. A little sweet, but i expected that, rich, raisiny flavour, with slight hints of maple syrup. Some slightly caramelly salty, sherry like qualities to finish off, this was really nice. Good to share it with fellow ratebeerers.

Bottled (Helsinki Beer Festival 2004)
Reddish color, small firm off-white head. Sweet portwine aroma - very developed. Sweet and roasted taste: coffee and alcohol. Very drinkable.

Bottled. Amber with a soft, smooth beige head. Big ripe cherry aroma, with lots of sweet malts. Alcohol is prominent on the nose but is more acceptable on the palate. Sweet flavour that lingers something chronic on the palate. The flavours naturally change as it warms and as the palate tires. Sweetness transitions into a thick bitterness which becomes hard work. Very impressive that so much of everything could be packed into a beer but generally that’s not the point.

[Sampled November 7, 2003] The aroma is sweet and malty with notes of fruit. The color is a hazy dark amber and it has a beutiful beige head. The flavor is lovely from a good malt blend with notes of fruits and wood. It has a dry bitter end. A fine beer but not nearly as good as Vintage 1997 and 2001 - maybe because of the short aging? I wish I had another one to experiment with.