Fullers Vintage Ale 2009

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

Serve in English pint, Trappist glass

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Bottle @ Cafe Buitenlust, Oirschot. Shared with Dutchdrebus. Lightly hazy red color, decent off-white head. Smell malts, grains, wort and sweet. Taste alcohol, wort, chocolate and malts. Medium carbo, medium body.

Pours an orange amber color with no head. Aroma of toffee, caramel, plums, and a hint of hops. Sweet malt dominant flavor with toffee, caramel, plums, and hint of alcohol. Really nice beer for a snowy Halloween weekend.

Bottle @ home. Cloudy, orange appearance with a small off white head. Toffee, caramel, grape, plum, slight earthy hoppy aroma. Somewhat fruity-some citrus, plum, raisin- toffee, caramel, somewhat bitter, earthy hoppy flavor with a fairly strong, tangy, caramel aftertaste. Finish is a little strong.

Bottle. Dark gold / bronze pour with aromas of caramel, vanilla, wood and nuts. Taste is similar with hints of honey and almond. It’s pretty good.

Bottle shared with benzai @ café buitenlust, Oirschot. Cloudy, hazy red to brown colour with a big off-white head. Smells malty, nutty, caramel, "bierbostel". Tastes nutty, typical ale, bit boring. Low carbo, medium body.

Bottle at Køge Øldage. Dark amber colour with a beige head. Aroma and flavour of hops, malt, fruit, caramel and alcohol.

Vertical tasting with 2001, 2003, 2008 and served in a no--nik pint glass:

Rich deep amber caramel hue with a small but lasting frothy head that left very good lace upon the glass. Aroma: Orange marmalade and candied apple over a layer of crystal and Maris Otter, some farmhouse notes about the edges, beautiful EKG and Challenger hop character (if those are indeed the hops, methinks so) .

The taste is a wonderful balance between caramelized malts and hop bitters with a deep fruity component all around the edges. While this is just now getting that old oxidization character I love with the Fullers VA, there is also a hop and fruity note that makes me believe this could be the best since 1999. So complex yet still so inviting. The mouth feel is smooth and robust, a great cigar beer at this moment.

No FVA since 2006 has shown this much promise to be any equal to the 1999. That is VERY HIGH PRAISE indeed. Best of all this is the more available of the bunch!

Bottle. Dark amber with medium off-white head. Flavour is malt, caramel, fruit, hops, little bitter, toffee, little sweet and a little rip fruit.

Pours a cloudy amber with any off-white head and light lacing. Nose is caramel malts with floral hops. Medium to full body with smooth palate. Flavor starts out malty but moved toward bitterness and finishes that way. (caramel, cookie, light toast) with moderate earthy hops and fruity esters, Like prior years this is well crafted.

Bottled. A slightly hazy red beer with a thin beige head. The aroma has notes of malt, toffee, and bread. The flavor is sweet with notes of bread, malt, toffee, and some fruits, leading to a sweet and dry finish.