Fullers Vintage Ale 2005

Formerly brewed at Fullers
Style: English Strong Ale
London, England

Bottle #47099. Poured medium amber with a mostly loose-bubbled tan head.. the cap didn’t stick around for too long. The aroma opened with sour woody notes, vinous character, and tart dark fruit skins over deeper and warmer fruit plus some toffee and biscuits.. warm, and it grew on me as the drink progressed. The flavor found sweet caramel, toffee, biscuits, and a little fruit at the core.. brown sugar, earth, and tart fruity vinegar-like notes (but not as assertive as vinegar) surrounded.. tart, warm finish with inspiration from toffee and oaky dryness.. a bit hot at the end. Medium-bodied with enough carbonation to keep it moving across the palate.. not great balance between residual sugars and tartness to close it out. I could probably score this lower, but can’t see a way for this particular bottle to score higher.

Cloudy amber with a small white head. Aroma of wood, raisins and plum, with a slightly earthy note. Complex and rich fruity flavour with sweet port notes.

Pours dark amber, smooth, caramel, malty, little dark fruits, little wood, little spicey.

Pours a deep reddish orange, thin dissipating off white head.
Aroma is nice and subtle. Has a quite defined dark fruit raisin/date character. Bready malt underlies a spicey alcohol aroma.
Flavour is raisiny, with a warming spiciness, and a full bitterness. There is some brown sugar sweetness, finishes warm and spicy.
Quite balanced after 4 years, more barley wine like flavours.

Bottled. Amber coloured. Unclear. Aroma of ripe fruits, sweetness, spice, light berries and ligth alcohol. Quite dense and balanced. Flavour a bit more subdued. Sweetness, berries, alcohol, spice and light citrus. Medium bodied. Sweetish and fruity end. Light alcholburnt on lips.

Pours a clear orange with a big head. Aromas of cherry and sweet malt with some earthy tones and some apple. The flavor is woody with some earthiness some apple, a good warming alcohol, and some faint chocolate. Just kind of oxidized, but not too bad.

On the nose: Darker fruits, like berries. Brown/raw sugar. Herb and flowers, quite nice. Some yeast. Flavour: Slight hop bitterness, plus some ethanol bitterness. Dark fruits. Rather straight forward.

Bottle #26403. Well, at least it produced one terrific head, tan with excellent lacing. The colour was a dark yet clear amber, but the aroma was unremarkable, and I’m thinking this one had maybe gone a bit "off" despite being kept in a cool, dark place since purchase (Christmas of 2005); still in the box, even, Taste and mouthfeel were both thin and flat. I’m underwhelmed, and hope my Vintage 2006 is better.