Fullers Vintage Ale 1998

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

Bottle # 6843 at Akkurat - Thanks to Patrick for the taste. Cloudy red/brown - offwhite head. Flowery, dusty, honey, mint, berries, licorice, light light hoppy, sweetness/sourness/bitterness.

Bottled #6843@Akkurat
Ruby red color, steady beige head. Light nose with plums, "Fullers licorice" and nuts. Much less intensive than 1997 vintage (which was sampled just before this). Sweetness, licorice, some late hoppyness. Nice rounded, liquerish mouthfeel.

Sampled in 2006. Dark red in color. Plums and sweet maltyness. Fairly oxidised. A little metallic.

Bottled@Akkurat, Stockholm. Deep ruby red colour, mediumsized beige head. Aroma is vanilla, caramel malts, some hops and wood. Flavour is plum, sraisins, alcohol with some vanillaish notes in the background. Flavour is much more plum, alcohol and wooden than the 97 vintage.

Bottle shared at BCTC on Saturday night, 7/21/07
Another fine appearance, I’m tempted to give it a 5, and probably should. Maybe I will come back and change that. I’ll have to have it again. What’s in an appearance score, anyways? Medium-sized light light beige head fades to strong cover with ample lacing. Clear, copper-garnet color, still plentiful carbonation.
Ahh, much better than the 97, with less massive sweetness and more complexity. Seems like it’s closer to the 1999, though it dosent have the ester profile and light tartness of that one. This one seems more toasted and woody, with some earthy, almost scratchy malts that carve out a path for the sweet, residual sugars to slide delicately down the back of the throat. Or not so delicately, actually, as they are in quite high number by the end of the glass. But the somewhat papery oxidation notes, which were surprisingly more prevalent here than in the 97, and earthy, yeast notes give some balance, if somewhat blandly.
More straightforward cherry, date, peach and vanilla without the spiciness of the hops that you can find when these are still young. It’s been so long since I’ve had the 99, I’ll have to revisit and see if it’s as good as I remember, because I dont remember it being this sweet and, rather, simple. Still, a delightful after-dinner cordial (almost) and like Glouglouburp says, somewhat of a barleywine. Regardless, you can’t deny this stuff is incredibly well-malted. I’d like to see a stronger yeast signature out of it, but then, even Fullers’ well-attenuated, fresh cask ales do not have much house character. The woodiness and toastiness is nice though. Thanks to Ebay for the bottles (which I got a LONG time ago).

Looks like I write on the back of my notebook sheets when I’m drunk. A bit late, almost missed that one. ClarkVV brought it to BCTC 2007. Almost clear amber body. Toasted bread with delicious smooth caramel spread pretty much sums it up. Some residual sugar (brown sugar flavour) and light woody notes. A lot less oxidized than the 1999 bottle I had six months ago at Mugs Ale in NY. This one held up pretty well as I still remember it despite my advanced drunken state at that point. I finish my glass thinking Barley Wine minus the hops, maybe five years ago it was. Very smooth body and medium carbonation. No alcohol presence discernable probably because 8.5% was below my blood system at that point in the night.

50cL bottle, courtesy of ClarkVV @ BCTC 2007. Thanks, Clark! Pours a clear, ruby-red color; off-white head with large-bubbled retention. Dense, dried red fruits and caramel in the aroma. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: dried red fruits and chewy, oxidized caramel; pleasant dense caramel and belgian sugars. Lengthy, brown sugar and dry yeast finish. Very sugary and sweet.

Nice head and adequate lacing. The aromas surprised me on this one as the floral character of the hops could still be detected. Good caramelization detected with a strong and not overpowering malt complexity. A couple layers in here in fact. Still a decent bitterness on the back end after all these years. Overall, one could find that this "lost a step" due to the extended aging, but really held up remarkably well considering. Very enjoyable.