Fullers Vintage Ale 1997

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

Sampled in 2004: Huge nose of sweet dark fruits, and a little clay and earthy aromas. Hazy red-brown color and a big spongy head. Barleywine-like flavors and dark fruits (figs). Alcohol a go-go - comes across like a brandy at times. Powerful hop punch that lingers in the lower insdie of the mouth. A sugary sweetness is also deposited on the lips. Fat and chewy body. Great balance.

Bottle #59658, sampled 10 Jan 2004 - red-brown colour, few foam, very complex aroma of roasted malts, raisins, strawberry, alcohol and wood, light oily, sweet with a strong bitterness, powerfull and dry finish with notes of prune and alcohol - complex and very robust. Thanks to Ungstrup for this bottle and to fiulijn for sharing it with me !

(Bottle, # 84043) Pours a carbonated, cloudy amber body with a thick frothy head. Aroma of caramel, fruit, and toffee. Flavor of malt, caramel, and scotch. Chewy mouthfeel. Thanks for sharing Walt!

Bottle @ Akkurat, Stockholm. Vertical tasting -97, -00, 02 and -03 with official representatives from the brewery. 3rd one ever held by Fuller’s
Last two bottles from the Fuller’s cellar! A strong impact beer. Hits you where you want it to... Brandy or madeira? Discussions are ongoing. Plenty of dark fruits with raisins dominatiing. So complex I almost need to attach the Oxford dictionary to this rating. If you find this beer anywhere, don’t hesitate to pay whatever you’re asked. Gimme more, please! Oh, last two bottles... D@mn!

Bottle No. 25144: Nice creamcolored medium head, leaving brussels laces on the glass. Light red color, hazy. Raisons nose also malt figs and dates - kind of ppery too. Malt and raisons taste, not as intens as in the 1998 vintage. Doesn't scatch but isn't smooth either. Kind of weak taste, not the same Strong Ale/Barley Wine character as in the 1998, 1999 an 2000 vintage, which suprised me a bit as this bottle is with 7 years well aged.

Poured honey amber color with a big bubbled brown head...smell is yeasty with lots of delicate cognac too...taste is sweet and the mouthfeel is active with lots of small furious bubbles tickling the tongue...finish is warm and amazingly still alcoholic warm...

Bottle #84029 (1997 bottle drank in 2004) – Poured a hazy nut-brown color ale with off-white medium head with average retention. Carbonation is quite good for a 7 years old barley wine/strong ale. Aroma is comprised of sweet plums, in fact very sweet plums, with strong malt. Taste is quite warm, but no alcohol taste discernable, with again some sweet plums. Also, as expected this as a full creamy body. This is another great one from Fullers but I still think that the 1998 was more balanced with a bit less sweetness which made it more enjoyable.

I'm sure that I haven't done anything to be noted here for my intelligence and now to add to it all I have to say that I could have put more of these away rather than having had most of them when they came off the shelf. I suppose there was a slight reason - One, that I liked it despite being able to tell that it could easily improve with age, and the other was simply the price - I spent money that I really didn't have at he time and wanted immediate satisfaction. Now I'm paying for it in another way by seeing how this has improved. Yes, all the comments about plums, dates, figs ... there's just so much there. Damn!