Fullers Vintage Ale 2004

Dark copper colour. Light head. Delicate caramel and vanilla aroma. A subtle, delicious restrained high alcohol ESB. Alcohol is well hidden. I thought Fullers ESB was good but I could go under the table with this every night.

Shared this with Aurelius - bottle #76671 - for those counting. Dark copper appearance, with a just thick enough mocha colored head. Aroma has some essences of Copenhagen snuff with a back end of pure alcohol. Flavor has some sweet bubble gum notes, a hint of maple syrup and citrus but has an overridding boozy element to it as if it needed some againg. Not quite as complex as other Fuller’s vintages I have had. Not an everyday drink, enjoyable for sipping purposes.

Smells like grape NeHi, peat and snuff. Lightly hazy, tea colored, automatic appearance 5 for the bottle, box and presentation. Boozy, salty, dry caramel. A little simplistic for what I was expecting. Nothing suggests that this is green after only a year or so, but I can’t see this getting a lot more complex. Dryish and fully fermented, this was a fine pint. Just not as good as 1999.

Red brown colour with a big off-white head. Caramel malty aroma and a sweet dry malty dark fruits, light hoppy taste. Medium body and a sweet hoppy finish.

A Mes rate: Strong malty and dusty caramel aroma. Wonderful deep amber colour and thick body but let down a little by the head which vanished all too quickly. It’s down as an English strong ale but it tastes nothng like any other English ale I have ever tried. This is proper beer! Not sure how "limited" a run of nearly 100k is but never mind. My bottle was number 17743 for what its worth. It has that over the top rich almost brown sugary feel to it which for me lets it down, in the same way a lot of the Abbaye Des Rocs brews do. But I am still liking this a lot. Lots of dark fruit and caramel and nuts too. The aforementioned sugar makes sure its not missed and there is fruitcake and spice in the mix. A good sized dose of alcohol is there too, maybe a little too much for my liking. Full bodied and already tasting like it has aged well. I would really like to have the self control to set this aside for a few years. Palate is creamy smooth, thick and excellent. As good as I have tried from my own country in fact. Its just that damn brown sugar and over the top malts that spoil it for me. Don’t get me wrong it is jolly good stuff. Just a few things in there i dont like. Finish is really impressive. Initially creamy and sweet but gradually and I mean S L O W L Y turning over to bitterness that stays for a long time. Great finale.

Bottle 81,168. Pre-Rita Fiesta. Pours a most exsquisite mahogany; ample brown/red with a healthy head of clinging lace. Aroma is cherry- exclusively. Nice cherry bite in the flavor; reminds me of a well-rounded cherry lambic. Alcohol is hidden quite nicely. Great beer.

reddish amber w/ off white head. aroma of malt and alcohol, flavor dominated by alcohol. lacking the complexity one would expect from a ’vintage ale’.

Dark orange color with a creamy covering cream. Nice color, depending on the depth of the glass. Subtle aroma, until I forced myself to deeply inhale, which provided a somewhat rich juicy malt aroma; fruity, like a platter of red fruits, with a glass of sherry. Flavor is pretty mild overall, not nearly as aggressive as previous Vintage Ales and much more approchable. Still though, I am satisfied with its unbelievably juicy (red fruit) malt flavor and its creamy body. I found it delicious. The fresher, the better.