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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Almost no head at all slight spiciness with an alcohol aroma. Flavor was ok but i feel this would be a much better brew if it had some more age.I will rerate this again in 1 year after the other 3 can grow some more hair on them.

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.

Dutch Ratebeer Gathering. Sampled in 2007 (5 years old). Orange coloured, off-white head, chunks of yeast. Aged aroma, yeast, liquor, pretty strong. Vanilla notes with toffee and caramel, very nice malty flavour. Once and awhile some lactic notes shine through. Towards the end some sticky sweetness, liquorice and hops. Oily texture. Good, although i expected the age to shine through a bit more than it actually did. Thanks jbrus for sharing.

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.

Sample during tasting @ Ölrepubliken. Pours hazy amber with no head worth mentioning. Smell is sweet and malty with caramel, alcohol, toffee, rubber, lemon zest, overripe plums, raisins, sweet dark bread, cherries in liqueur, moist soil and hints of leather and cardboard. Taste is sweet, bitter and malty with caramel, toffee, alcohol, leather, orange zest, moist wood, grass, vanilla fudge and leather. Mouthfeel is round, oily bitter, tiny boozy and medium to full bodied. Finish is tiny sweet, bitter and tiny sour with caramel, lemon fudge, wood, leather and grass. Very nice but would probably have been even better about 2 years ago...

[550ml bottle courtesy of cgarvieuk] Hazy red pour with a fluffy white head. Fruity nose, very mellow. Sweet fruit cake and marzipan, although there’s an undercurrent of harshness throughout. I’d heard amazing things about this – indeed I’ve written amazing things about the 1999 vintage. This one was nice, but a tad muted. Maybe it just hasn’t aged well – could be one of those things [15102011]

Bottle. Pours a clear, deep amber, with a thin head. Big, fruity nose, developed but still lots of primary aromas, malt, hops, marzipan, chocolate, tobacco, nuts, leather. Full bodied, dry. Complex, mature, very well balanced taste. Malt, chocolate, nuts, madeira wine, hops, marzipan, and warming alcohol. At this stage, excellent balance between young malt/fruit, and maturation. (2010-10-20)

Big and SUPER clear red ale with a perfect, creamy white head. The aroma is unbelievably rich with a huge similarity to a Belgian bun. That is really amazing tasty. Creamy and floury with a beautiful browned pastry flavour and an Earl Grey soaked raisin. Some cheap powdery chocolate and lovely vinilla there too. I think that is fricking tasty. This is a very special beer.

Bottle@home 10/12/11. Sherry and muscavado sugar nose though over-boozy and some melon-rind.

Poured from a 550ml bottle, thanks to Doug. Big toffee and fruity nose. Flavors of leather, toffee, coffee, caramel. A tasty beer that has held up well.