Fullers Vintage Ale 2004

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

Serve in English pint, Trappist glass

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I had a 2004 vintage # 75579 The presentation is fantastic in this beautiful collectors box and inside is a unique 18.6 oz brown pint bottle. It looked very light while pouring, but it sits in the glass at a coppery transparent color. Huge head! I got like four fingers of head in my oversized Victory pint glass. Significant lacing. It has a great smell of gentle port. Hint of sweet fruit like a tangerine, then grapes. As it warmed the smell got to a darker fruit like raisins or figs. It makes me think of wine. (?) The taste is fantastic but pretty straight foreword. Extremely malty flavor with hints of dark fruit, and gentle on the taste buds. It is so soft on the taste bud I can’t imagine anyone saying it tastes bad; even if it is not there preference. The mouthfeel is amazing (so much so I consider it a highlight of this beer). If I had not poured it myself I’d have thought it was on-cask. It is the creamiest feel. This is full bodied but light and frothy. One of the most gentle creamy mouthfeels I have ever experienced. Each sip you just want to last forever; it just feels right! It is fantastically drinkable. It’s so pleasant in the mouth that I would anticipate the next the next sip; yet it is a beer that can’t be rushed. It is too pleasant to rush through. In other words it is worth the money. Someone complained it was $6 a bottle. I only wish I lived in that state. In PA its $9 a bottle and WELL worth the money. --- EDIT: In fact I went back and bought three more to age for another year. --- Hope this is helpful. Cheers!

Bottle 81746. Pours a slightly hazy mohagany with virtually no head. Smells like liquid carmel with maple syrup mixed in to sweeten it. Tastes as it smells but not as sweet as it smells. Really delicious...I’m glad my brother showed up to help my buddy and I finish the bottle though. Mild carbonation, medium body. Overall a real treat showing the benefit of aging.

Bottle. Red deep golden colour with an off-white head. Aroma is hop, cherry, alcohol, sugar, licorice. Flavour is alcohol, hop, malt, sugar, cherry, licorice. Nice beer.

50 cl bottle @ KBF.
Rated on 20101126.
Clear copper color. Aroma of malts, caramel, ripe fruits and grass. Flavor of ripe fruits, plum, raisins, malts and caramel.

Bottle at Chriso’s Fullers-Gales Tasting (thanks to Chris). It pours deep amber, with a thin off-white head. The nose is gingerbread, spice, nut and sticky dried fruit - raisin, currants, cherry and the like. The taste is sweet tinned fruit (pear, melon, nectarine), wood, sherry, spice and alcohol warmth in the finish. Full body, moderate carbonation and syrupy mouth-feel. Good balance, but can get quite cloying after a while.

10 feb 2012, bottle. Nice, clear ruby. Nose is a bit winey, soured grapes. Med body and almost flat. Bourbon barrel stout (faint) and flat coke. I was expecting a bit more. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Bottle No. 19015 care of The Hung Drawn & Quartered, London. Pours reddish, cloudy as I should have let it settle, thin white head. Nose is sweet orange, tangerine, Grand Marnier, orange liqueur, caramel, raisins. Taste is mellow orange, orange liqueur, caramel, cherry liqueur. There’s a bitter tartness too, but flavours have softened over the years.

Bottle 550ml #62497 @ home
[Courtesy of yngwie] Pours clear amber with a off-white head. Aroma has notes of malt, alcohol and caramel. Taste is medium sweet and light bitter. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft.

Bottle. courtesy of gunnfryd.Bottle No. 62497. Pours deep golden with an off-white head.Aroma of malt, biscuit, fruitiness and sherry .Flavor is sweet and malty with some warmth, biscuits and fruitiness. Medium body, average carbonation.Nice smooth beer.

Cherry red with sherry nose and a hint of pineapple esters. Balanced and warming alcohol with a hint of cocoa in the finish.

UPDATED: DEC 12, 2011 (Bottle number 71049) Im skeptical as I open this almost 8 year old bottle of vintage fun, I wan’t it to be lush in deep malty texture to the point of relentlessness ,but will it be just boozy. tired and not worth time on the palate ? . Im in my new flat/apparetment and im punch drunk as i finished one bottle of this already and ive written shit all so retry
(Bottle number 71071Gotta bunch of vintages as a gift . So lets crack this shit open again
....in a goblet the nose is sticky and nice ,like id snort it kinda vibes...sugary covered cherry ,prunes ,maybe raisin i can’t be sure , with pleasingly slick and ploished boozy accents ...earthy whispers from the goldings hops .
it looks murky and dull deep copper ,subtle beige head.Even a Chimay goblet can’t sex this up .
this ale opens like a Barley Wine ...it opens its doors on the palate to kiss you with big rich depth of malt...suggesting cherry like notes ,brown sugar ,brown bread covered in sugar ,maybe some alcoholic raisin bread or something . earthy hops are dead but they are there in spirit
Im sipping this and reflecting at my slighly Bohemian and yet tasteful new crib . Im having luch tomorrow with this hot Indian chick who thinks im an alcoholic beacuse i drink twice a week , yet she broke her anckle wasted last year . The kinda stress I live with .
MMMMMMMMMM the maltiness is sticky and coats my gumbs with passion....,,
Shit im only scoring this just a 4 on reflection ? i was both wrong and right to be skeptical . (re8 Bottle 71045) Another bottle and this showcases age in more intensely acidic dimensions, very differing from the two previous bottles , yet here it is .. huge smokey cherry nose ..cherry that has replaced marshmellow over a fire . Vibrant on the palate ..tart fruit ,vinious ,kinda sticky and toffee like as an undercurant ..boozy fruit over cherry , raisins, apple ester , alcoholic sugars ..the finish is of a dry earthiness which is a shame , lacks the flare of the opening .
2004 is good fun , a 4.1 on reflection 3 bottles down . :)