The Brew Basement

Name: Vintage Ale

Brewer: Fuller’s

Style: Old Ale

Vintage: 2007

Cellared On: September 1st, 2008

Original Tasting: October 10th, 2008

Wow, it’s a beer in that comes in a cool red box! Caaatchy. I remember my first thought after seeing this was that you better be making a pretty damn good brew if you’re packaging the thing like that.

Fortunately for Fuller’s, it turns out they’ve been making the Vintage Ale for 10 years now, and by all accounts they have pretty much all been damn good brews.

The 2007 Vintage Ale poured a slightly cloudy light brown. It smelled of heavy sweet malts, almost kind of syrupy. Tons of fruit flavors were evident.

The first thing I noticed after taking a sip was the body on this beer (just like the first thing I noticed about my wife was the body on her - WOWZA!). Being more on the medium-bodied side, it was much lighter then I would have thought. It had a wonderfully sweet bready malt flavor to it. There were strong apple, brandy and raisin notes, along with a slight caramel twinge to the sweetness. A nice hoppy bitterness came in mid-palate and rides out the sweet finish. There was also a touch of a boozy warming alcohol on the end.

For a strong brew, this was amazingly easy to drink, and I can’t wait to try the rest of them.

Cellar Outlook: Nothing to fear here, this is a brew made for cellaring. Here’s a bit from the website:

… will mature slowly over time like a fine wine or whisky - well beyond the best before date that we are obliged to state. Here at Fuller’s, we recently opened (in the interests of research, of course) a few bottles of old Vintages: they tasted better than ever so stock up now and you’ll be glad you did in years to come!

If you’d like to see how some of the previous vintages have tasted, be sure to check out the tasting notes from the Fuller’s website.

Next Tasting: September 2009

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com

Hello everyone. I’m hoping to get one of these tasting updates banged out each week until I finally get current. It’s going to be a long haul, but I’ll get there.

In the meantime, I want to make sure everyone knows just how well the Le Merle from North Coast brewing has been doing - it’s AWESOME. Easily one of the biggest improvements I’ve seen in the cellar. Be sure to add this brew to your collection if you’re able to, I guarantee you won’t regret it.

Stone Old Guardian Barleywine ‘08 (Six Months) - Holding up well, still delicious! There is a hint of “old hop” flavor starting to develop, but it’s just contributing positively to the brews’ complexity for now.

Avery 14th Anniversary Ale (One Year) - Changes, changes, changes. This brew can’t stay still. Right now it feels like a porter - there’s definite notes of toffee, raisin, and light chocolate.

Avery Samuel’s Oak-Aged Ale (One Year) - All of the complexity of this brew has slipped right away. All that’s left is a thick, syrupy, oak-flavored sugar bomb.

Corsendonk Abbey Brown Ale (One Year) - No off-flavors to speak of. That’s good, right? Maybe - but unfortunately there are almost no flavors AT ALL to speak of. Definitely not a brew to cellar.

Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale (One Year) - The pumpkin is pretty much all gone. There’s still some nice spice flavor, but this brew is just barely drinkable.

Weyerbacher Insanity (Six Months) - Much the same except for one major difference - the alcohol burn. It’s pretty much gone. This brew is definitely more drinkable now.

North Coast Le Merle (Six Months) - Just awesome. Awesome. Light and zippy, fruity with an earthy finish.

Stoudt’s Triple (One Year) - Bright and fruity, much like before. The big mystery here is that this tasting was actually sweeter then the six-month tasting, where I had found that the brew had noticeably dried up.

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com

Name: Bla