Fullers Vintage Ale 2007

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

A not-so cloudy dark gold thing, with lots of apples, caramel, and sugar in the nose. Great taste is similar to nose, but it’s apparent immediately that the aroma is king. Lingering hops on the back end will make friends of certain American drinkers. Best British beer I’ve had in awhile.

Bottle BA Trollhättan – bottle number 96685 Thanks Jörgen for sharing this one! Hugely sweet caramal malty beer that poured slightly cloudy with a short-lived head. The hops sit a long way in the background of this beer, and for me the sweet malt simply overpowers this beer. Was a great pairing with a 6-month old Lancashire Stilton.

Aroma of butter rum lifesavers, candied malt and pit fruit, orange/red, slim toffee head. Taste of alcohol is upfront, rich malt, almonds. Full bodied, strong alcohol notes, warming and bitter. Tasty, but like it’s predecessors, needs aging.

Pours a transparent orange amber with an airy light tan head with spotty lacing. Aroma of sweet toasty caramel malts with some floral resiny English hops. Body starts fairly full and malty sweet with assertive earthy bittering hops and a slightly drier, toasty bittersweet finish. Pretty comparable to the other Fullers Vintage Ales but could use a little more aging to balance some of the hop bitterness.

Bottle. Poured a deep amber red body with nice head. Aroma is soft ripened fruit, sweet malt and figs. Flavor has a very rich malty body, sweet with low taste of plums and figs. Surprisingly good for how young it is.

500 ml, #116863. Copper color with a four-finger, lasting head. Aroma is slight citrus-resin and toffee. Flavor is a well-balanced repeat of the aroma, with slightly more leafy-floral hops than the aroma would indicate. Some wood and earth notes give it some depth and character. Near-medium body is fairly smooth and just the right amount of dry on the finish.

Bottle 97284. Needs more time in there to take the edges off. Recognisably the same beer as the Golden Pride, but with riper orange/apple fruit, leafier hop, juicier caramelised notes. Beautiful clear copper ringed with white. Obvious marzipan/almond/ Palinka aroma (alcohol), but not overwhelming. Sodden wood also, toffee, fudgy vanilla sweetness. Heady ganja, sweat and hopsack notes as it stands. In the mouth, grainy malt, slight peatiness, juicy fruit leaning towards strawberry, nasal biscuit beyond the fruit and alcohol. Too raw and boozy. Hangover afters wafting with ethanol. A beer of serious promise, but no more. In 5years this might be a big mellow fireside sipper, but for now it’s a wet-behind-the-ears ASBO brawler with no finesse.

When I mentioned to Fin at our last stout tasting night that I still hadn’t seen Fuller’s Vintage for sale anywhere around Oxford, he immediately stood up, went to his cellar, and came back with this bottle and gave it to me. Very generous of you mate! Many thanks!

Dark copper, off-white cap of fine foam. Husky grain character and leather, old candy store, pastry, and some minty menthol hops. Peppery roast caramel sweetness, significant pine and wet mulch hop bitterness. Lingering menthol finish. Very interesting, idiosyncratic, and moorish in a impish sort of way. While alcohol heat is certainly present in this youngish bottle, it’s not overbearing. Still, i can see how a few years more would soften and round the edges of this. Fun to finally try this, as I’ve been meaning to find a Fuller’s Vintage since before I started rating in 2004.