Fullers Vintage Ale 1998

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

Cloudy, amber body with eggshell colored head. Smells english hops, dates, plums and squash big, sweet, complex and malty flavors. Yeast, grapes, alcohol, butterscotch, toffee all melding nicely on the tongue. Sampled from bottle# 53695 purchased at Toronado in San Francisco, CA. I just wish the Redskins would hurry up and make it into the playoffs so that I can next crack my '99 vintage I've been aging for over a year.

Bottle at Toronado in San Francisco. I was pleased to see this on the bottle menu. Nice hazy orange pour with a little creamy head. Raisons, apples, and some dark fruits dominate the aroma. Crisp taste. Caramel, some hops, and malt in the flavor. Definitely a treat to have for sure! Aged very well.

Since it winds up being the case - just putting in a repitition of my rating for the 1997 - 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!

Bottle No. 12993: Hazy orange color, medium foamy head, soft carbonation. Banana tone in the nose first, than apples, raisons alsonice malt and intens hops flavors to follow. Taste almost like a Bigfoot. Coffebean flavor, that last long. Berry aftertaste, also tones of dates. Not thick - long lasting bitterness. Your tonogue stick to the roof of the mouth cause the first initial kick of bitterness. Nice.

Sampled in 2004: Big, fat nose with wild berry aromas - slightly perfumy after warming up. Muted ruby red color with some brown hues. Foamy lathery head. Lucious think malt base with dark fruit flavors in the malt (raisins, figs, dates). Powerful crisp bitter hoppiness with a clear resolution in the corners of the mouth. A little grassy in the finish. Like a barleywine for sure. Great great balance - this has aged extremely well. Better than the 1999 and 2000

11/12/03. Poured out of 16 oz. bottle, enjoyed in a tasting at Hi-Time Wine Cellars 11/12/03. Very thin, cream-colored head. Lightly hazy amber body with beautiful lacing; terrific appearance on this beast. Nose follows with more of the same-- very rich with malts, oak, almost a bourbon or cognac maltiness, some sweetness of fresh honeycomb, and a little dustiness from the aging. Very elegant. Flavor is then a bit of a letdown, bitterly woody and a little off-putting with its muted sweetness-- it seems like the malts haven't aged as elegantly as we'd have liked, giving off sort of a candy corn sweetness with a bit of an alcohol undercurrent. Finish is dry and very long, leathery and nicely mellow, once again very pleasant but just like the initial flavor, it's not as elegant or delicious as the nose and appearance promise. A mild disappointment for me.

To start, I would encourage you to drink this now. I've had this one when it first came out and I believe that last prior to now would have been in 2000. It seems to be losing some of its nuances. Amber color with a smaller light tan head. Oak, mild floral and light malt and fruit aroma. Fruity, alcoholic and very warming. Alcohol seems to have taken over a bit more then when sampled in the past. Still a nice night cap, but lacks tha smoothness I remember.

Powerful ale with huge malt, a yeasty fruitiness with pear and peach notes, giving way to a powerful, warming, lingering finish. The aroma is woody, malty, and herbal.