Fullers Vintage Ale 1998

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

Courtesy TheCheeseMan. Very hazy brown pour. Nice strong aroma of dried fruit. Very nice fruity, caramelley, brown sugar flavor that covers the abv nicely. Hints of sweetness. Mouthfeel and carbonation are good as well. Nice beer that is very complex. thanks Dan

Courtesy TheCheeseMan. 10 years old! Bottle #27359. The cloudy, muddy, medium-brown body with a thin bubbly edge really isn’t much to look at, but who cares when you’re talking about a decade old brew as nice as this one. The aroma shows sweet caramel malts, sweet dark fruits, brown sugar, and copious amounts of vanilla. This one smells like Tahitian vanilla beans have been steeped in the dark liquid all this time. The flavor is quite sweet, with caramel and brown sugar malts showing strong. There are still some flowery hops left within, which is surprising given its age. The medium-full, syrupy body is well carbonated and smooth. Good stuff. This has aged incredibly gracefully.

Bottle... VBWT2008... Cloudy, caramel-colored ale with a small, creamy, white head. Aged with grace! Toffee nose is enhanced by fuzzy fruit and vinous esters with just a hint of a smoke phenol. Full-bodied, but dry with light carbonation. Sweet, vinous malts. Barely hopped, but adequately bitter. Bittersweet, vinous finish. TheCheeseMan bringeth!

The Cheeseman brings the noise with another Fullers Vintage. Cloudy copper color with a thin blanket of white head. Sweet candy corn aroma, sweet malts. Mild malt taste, sweet middle and dry finish. Rich and tasty, but really starts to knock on the door of cloying.

TheCheeseman strikes again! Pours a dark amber, with a smallish off white head. Smells of apples, caramel malts, and some bready yeast. Still sharp in the nose. Good sign. The flavor had soft carbonation as expected with its age, still pretty sweet. The caramel and dark fruits made up most of the flavor characters, and it had a great smoothness to it that helped drink nice and easy. This has held up well, not surprising coming from a great English brewery. Thanks for sharing this rare brew Dan!

Aroma is big bright fruit and sherry. Sweet and sugary with ripe, full fruit. Taste is oxidized, full sweet fruitiness with loads of sweet caramelized malt. I can hardly describe how yummy this is. Actually, this reminds me a lot of the Yona Barleywine. I get touches of heat, some hoppy bitterness. This is rich, deep and complex. Lots of crisp hop and fruit. Very, very good. This has aged gracefully and could go on for a few more years, but not too many more. This is cloyingly sweet, dense red fruit, cloying caramelized malt, and slight hop bite. I really like this beer a lot.

Bottle @ the Falling Rock poured a clear reddish copper with a small lingering amber head. Aromas of honey, carmel, toffee, spice, light orange and a hint of vinous notes. Palate was medium bodied, smooth and slightly warming. Flavors of carmel, honey, light orange, light spice and light toffee with a smooth warming bittersweet finish.

500 ml bottle (#31697) obtained in trade with Footbalm (Jan 2007) served at cellar temperature from a Corsendonk glass, with pepperoni, smoked mozzarella, and raisins....forms a decent bit of head after an audible pop when the cap is removed, light spidery lacing atop the murkey copper-brass body....caramel-sherry aroma is certainly qutie oxidized but enough interesting earthy hints still exist for some interest....the body is quite sweet, thick and almost syrupy, with caramel and molasses bits, some vanilla and baked fruits as expected, really quite lovely and surprisingly pleasurable to drink, just enough vaguely sour and dry earth-tones to keep it from being overbearingly sweet....amazingly full and well-carbonated for a 9-year-old, while this is probably a bit past prime it still confirms to me that Fullers know what they’re doing with this series. Nice.