Fullers Brewers Reserve Limited Edition No 1 Oak Aged Ale

Brewed by Fullers
Style: English Strong Ale
London, England

50cl dark brown bottle, as shown (No.19,216). Beautiful hazy dark amber colour – big, creamy off-white head with plenty of lacing. Intense aroma of orange, toffee and whiskey. Low carbonation, generally creamy, but slightly grainy mouth feel. The effect of 500 days of storage in old whiskey casks is immediately noticeable, creating a superbly balanced taste of fruit, whiskey and roasted malt. Bitter and dry hoppy finish, long-lasting medium bitter aftertaste in which the different notes are still „at play“ long after the last sip is gone. This is beer with a capital „B“. Sure, it’s expensive – but I honestly think that strong ale doesn’t get any better than this. Fuller’s have done it again!

Tried at the brewery with huge thanks to Paul. Bugger all of this left around so i was glad to try this! Touch of whisky on the nose but comes through in the flavour better, goes amazingly well with the fullers orangeyness....not to much whisky just enough! great beer and i’m surprised at some of the other ratings! Apparently it does get better as it ages though

Bottled (thanks omhper!). Amber colour, mediumsized beige head. Aroma is licorice, fruity hops and quite lemony as well. Also some fudge and caramel malts as it waems up. Flavour is caramel malts, fruits and some slightly yeasty notes. Some whisky and oaky notes become more present when getting warm. Very nicely balanced.

Bottle no 17330, Limited No 1 Edition of this oak-aged ale. Clear copper with an initially big, lively yellowish head. Complex vanilla, palm sugar, whisky and orange nose. Vanilla blending with orangey whisky flavours. Add to that solid, harmonious hoppiness. A sophisticated innovation from Fullers- more of this, please!

Bottle from Bitter Virtue, Southampton, Hampshire, courtesy of my dad, cheers dad. Pours amber, stunning clarity and with a nice busy bubbly white head, it looks nigh on perfect. Fresh nose, loads of bready yeasty notes, some wet wood and some dark fruits and sweetness start to show. Flavour is fruity but far from the cloying sweet dark sticky fruits that I was anticipating there is also some oakiness, bitterness and a little drying at the end, in fact this is a really drinkable beer for 7.7% There are some whisky attributes kicking about but they are so subtle that I really like this because they dont cloud what is a really decent beer they just add a little more intrigue and depth, really likeable beer. Looks like I am the first UK rater of this beer. A 8 A5 F8 P4 OV15 4.0

500ml Bottle - Amber in colour with a lively head. Very intriguing aroma with hops, berries, orange and a slightly smoky and musty hint. The taste is rich and fruity with dried fruit, hops, marzipan, Christmas cake and some smoky notes. The whisky elements are noticeable, yet nicely balanced.

Very good off-white head, bit fluffy and reasonably stable, over amber-orange beer with slight mossy shine. Soft almonds nose, alcohol and lots of fusels - immediately striking as very complex. Later parsley aroma and vinous, as fruit on wine. Gives some unexpected reminiscenses of the better Californian oak-aged beers. BItter, slightly toasted caramel, vying with heavy alcohol & fusel notes; whisky now very obvious. Every sip starts winey, before getting more woody-bitterish. Very burning MF, lots of alcoholwarming. Quite slick, but not much more than medium bodied impression. A bit harsh - probably better after more bottle-aging, but already a truly great beer. Hurray for Jezza Patrick!