Fullers Vintage Ale 2004

Bottle @ jbrus’. Aroma has caramel malts, apricots and liquor. Hazy, orange-amber coloured with an off-white, lasting head. Taste is sweet with some more madeira/aged liquor. It also has toffee malts and some bread. Bit sticky. Not as good as other vintage ales.

Dutch Ratebeer Gathering. Sampled in 2007 (3 years old). Clear orange-brown coloured, thick lasting head. Obvious apricot in aroma, malts, liquor-notes (but not whisky-like like the 2006), hint of apple. Some vanilla and sweetness towards the end. Finishes alcoholic, bitter with some sticky sweetness. Somehow missing complexity compared to the other vintages. Thanks jbrus for sharing!

Bottle@Home. Aroma of bread, tea and apricot. That would make nice breakfast. Hazy, light brown color, off-white head, fair lace. Sweet, obviously aged (already), madeira, bitter, toffee, very bitter in the finish. Sticky and light dusty mouthfeel.

Bottle from Half Time in Poughkeepsie. Bottle from the 86K range. The box on the shelf took me back to tastings at state line in MD with slob and my Dad. I agree that the bes before date is accurate. Overall it was a bit disappointing. I expected more hop and a bit less rounded body. Sweet and big about matches my time with this bottle. I believe this is better when young. Further study needed.

Sampled in 2006. Redish in color. Malty and sweet yet kindof dry. Cherries and grapes. A little green hops - nice.

Had this beer on 4/2/2006. Aroma is a bit sweet and wine like. Color is a deep golden brown with good carbonation and thin head. Taste is crisp and sweet. Starting with a lighter/medium body it goes down with a crisp feel and malty sweetness coming on. Finish builds on this sweetness becoming bolder with a rich feel, then ends with a nice even bitterness and a full malt flavor. In the end it leaves you with an aftertaste of European malt and yeast that seems to stand out in most imported beers. It’s a nice brew all around but as I said it still has the taste I find so common in imported beers.

This beer had a golden cherry color to it with an aroma of a hoppy red wine. As you drink it there was a lot of citrus and lots of lemon zest and grassey flavors. The booze was not as hidden in this beer at all. You could taste alot of pitted fruits and hops on the palate which tended to stay arround for a while.

Pours out a deep, slightly cloudy ruby copper with a quickly fading tan head that leaves some thin lacing. I notice some sediment floating around that is reluctant to settle out. The nose is alcoholic and vinous with caramel malt, toasted grahm cracker/cookie notes and wood. The flavour brings out the fruits, mainly cherry. There is definitely creamy, dark caramel some bitter hops in the finish, faint smoke, possibly sherry, and more alcohol than 8.5% would suggest. The palate is silky, tingly and short in duration. The flavours come to a hault in an alcoholic, bitter hop finish that was not too dry. This one could have used a bit more maturation.