Fullers 1845

Brewed by Fullers
Style: English Strong Ale
London, England

Typical English strong ale. Try Olde Suffolk instead. A strong malt bite hits you as you drink this beer. It is a solid offering, as is everything from Fuller’s.

500ml bottle conditioned ale bought at the great St Albans Beer Festival 2005 (going back there this year). The beer has a deep mahogany colour topped with a medium lasting off-white, thick head. Inviting sweet aroma of caramel malt. Full bodied. Rich flavours of dried fruit, hops and roasted malt. Solid bitterness in a lingering aftertaste. Very tasty after more than nine months in the cellar.

Pours rich dark copper/red with a beige head. Big malty caramel flavor, hints of chooclate, sweet cherry, damp wood, and spices. Light oxidatized flavors only lead to complexity, not distracting at all. Sherry and chocolate show in the finish. While thinner then expected on the palate, the depth of flavors really makes up for it. Chewy dates and light nutmeg begin to show as the beer warms. Hops are subtle, but provide the needed balance to keep this from being cloying.

Bottle. Clear copper with a very big, light yellow head. Complex aroma of fruit, chocolate and spices. Fruit and chocolate, spicy, good earthy bitterness, dry finish. Simply great.

Nice and rich redness in the color. Bready and yeasty nose. Cool and easy-flowing mouthfeel quickly turns to a rich and creamy thickness. Has a nice malty bitterness about it. The texture seems to solidify in your mouth! Seriously, take some in, let it sit on your tongue for sec, and then realize what I’m talking about. It really does thicken with time! Fresh yeast flavors linger about. This beer is super malty with a rich bitterness in the finish. Toasted caramel nuances exude. Some soft and bitter, low-note hops are ever present.

500. Pours crystal clear ruddy brown with a thick, rocky, moussy, creamy, towering tan head--it goes through virtually every known phase of head appearance as it piles up in the glass, shoving beer out of the way as it goes. Nice sweet plummy nose, with a little bit of booze sticking its head in, too--odd, for 6.3%. Body’s on the light side of medium, almost a little watery in places, with very understated carb. Nice rich woody, leathery mid-palate with crisp but mild hop resin near the finish. Nice lingering resiny finish. This is really dandy stuff.

Looks terrific-- clear copper red, thin tan head, delicate lace. Lots of aroma here: definite whiskey sour-mash notes, sweet caramel, fruity yeastiness, and an earthy almost vegemite hint as well. Malty palate with a subtle spicy sweetness and a balanced mildly bitter finish. Extremely enjoyable.

0.5L bottle pours clear amber with rocky-frothy tan head and sheet lacing. Nice full aroma with prunes, gingerbread, molasses, cherries and fruit cake. Nice. The taste is much like the aroma starting with fruit cake, cherries and boysenberries. By midway malts enter the picture with roasted malts that move toward caramel and toffee notes. Into the finish malts mix with cherries and prunes. The only knock would be the thin-ish body. Nice brew.

I only noticed after I was done rating that this brew had a best by date of 10/NOV/05. I consumed it in Dec. 2007. It is certainly best by even a few more years.