Vintage Ale 2017
Fuller's Brewery in London, Greater London, England 🏴
Traditional Beer - Old Ale Series Out of Production|
Score
7.53
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This year’s Vintage Ale is the 21st edition of our limited edition brew and, like any great 21st, we’ve celebrated in style. The 2017 recipe has been created by our new Head Brewer, Georgina Young, and, in the spirit of all things new, uses a malt and hop combination never seen before in a Fuller’s beer.
The Denali hop has a big, inviting aroma that imparts pineapple, citrus and pine notes – perfect for bringing a tropical touch to the Vintage Ale series. It’s been used here both late in the boil and for dry hopping, dovetailing with classic British hop varieties Target and Goldings.
We’ve also used a new malting barley this year – a British variety called Laureate. New varieties don’t come along very often, so we thought it fitting to use one this year alongside our new American hop.
As with every Vintage Ale, it’s a special beer inside and out, perfect as a gift or to add to your collection.
The Denali hop has a big, inviting aroma that imparts pineapple, citrus and pine notes – perfect for bringing a tropical touch to the Vintage Ale series. It’s been used here both late in the boil and for dry hopping, dovetailing with classic British hop varieties Target and Goldings.
We’ve also used a new malting barley this year – a British variety called Laureate. New varieties don’t come along very often, so we thought it fitting to use one this year alongside our new American hop.
As with every Vintage Ale, it’s a special beer inside and out, perfect as a gift or to add to your collection.
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7.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Flasche 0,5l (Btl. 102151): Kupfer, deutliche Trübung, mäßig stabiler mittelporiger Schaum; kräftig malzige Nase, kräftige Süße, Karamell, Vanille, dunkle/eingelegte Früchte, Hopfennoten, Malz, leichte Hefearomen, dezente Röstaromen; würziger Körper, kräftige Süße, Malz, Malzzucker, Karamell, cremig, kräftige Kohlensäure, würzig, angenehme Röstaromen, dunkle/eingelegte Früchte, etwas dunkle Schokolade; angenehmer fruchtig-würziger Nachgang
Tried
from Bottle
from Craftbeer Shop
on 03 May 2019
at 08:00
7/10
Tried
on 27 Apr 2019
at 22:58
5.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 5
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 5
Bottle at home. Clear amber color, decent sized beige head. Aroma is malts, a bit buttery. Flavor is malts, sweetish a bit, buttery again a bit, maybe a caramel / toffee hint? Hmm I don't know, I'm not a fan. Actually, I don't like it very much. Maybe it's just bad. Meh.
Tried
from Bottle
on 19 Apr 2019
at 19:40
7.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
50 cl bottle @ home. BBE 12/2027. Bottle #062567. Aroma has toffee-like malt, caramel and some moldy cellar(!). Flavour has toffee, caramel, some biscuity malt and dlight moldy tones. Also menthol and sugary notes. Solid and balanced, quite what you would expect from this series.
Tried
from Bottle
on 15 Apr 2019
at 16:34
7.5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8
Cask (handpump) @ GBBF 2017, [ Great British Beer Festival 2017 ], London Olympia, Hammersmith Road, London, England W14 8UX.[ As Fuller's Vintage Ale 2017 ].Clear medium amber orange colour with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, off-white head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, caramel, dried fruit, wood, alcohol. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and light moderate bitter with a long duration, orange, dried fruit, sweet malt, wood, caramel, malty, light alcohol, marmalade hop notes. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft to flat, finish feel is warming and light alcoholic. [20170809] 8-3-8-3-16
Tried
from Cask
on 12 Apr 2019
at 14:12
6.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Flesje gedeeld door Benzai. Amberkleurig bier met weinig schuim. Aroma is houtig en hooiachtig. Smaak is bitterzoet met een hint van donker fruit. Nasmaak is iets bitter. Weinig body.
Tried
on 22 Mar 2019
at 23:22
8.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 10
Overall 8
500ml bottle. Pours orange brown with a pillowy white head. Cherry, biscuit, caramel, strong toffee, bit of sweet wine, strawberry, pineapple. Gorgeous soft body. Wonderful.
Tried
from Bottle
on 20 Mar 2019
at 06:48
8.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Bottle. Color: Copper, very long lasting soft off-white head. Aroma: Malty, caramel, dark fruit. Taste: Smooth, almost creamy, medium sweet, caramel, slightly floral, dark fruit, prunes, vanilla. Hints of berries, very lightly sour. Boozy hints. Moderate hopbitterness, subtle citrus and pineapple notes. Over medium body, below average carbonation. Typical British. Great.
Tried
from Bottle
on 15 Mar 2019
at 21:00
7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Foggy amber. Orange highlights. Small ivory head. Aroma: honey, sugared fruit, toffee, caramel, a hint of hay. Medium body. Taste: light initial sweetness, rich malts, nuts, oaky hints, honey, dried pears, floral hops. Light plus bitterness. Short ending. Overall, a well-tasting quality strong ale. I just wish it had a more convincing finish.
Tried
on 13 Feb 2019
at 20:05
7.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
The 2017 edition in this still enthusing series - brewed before sadly this established English brewery was taken over by Asahi... Vintage bottle from Willems, 50 cl shared with Goedele. Thinnish, breaking, egg-white, mousy head consisting of a steady ring and flattened islands over the middle, lightly hazed deep orange blonde robe with near-amberish hue and fine strings of lively sparkling, misty with deeper amber robe after adding the sediment. Aroma of old cheese crust, dried orange peel, old biscuit, tofu, tamarillo peel, candied pineapple, persimmon, whisky (very pronounced even), pine nuts, wet toast, dried pineapple, bread crumbs, old ginger powder, deep-fried tomato peel, light hint of brown honey, white pepper. Sweetish onset in a restrainedly fruity way, notes of persimmon, dried orange peel and apricot, alcoholic warmth apparent from the start, very vague dried meat-like umami aspect from proteins, softish carb. Slick, rounded but full, biscuity and lightly peanutty malt body, ongoing dried fruit notes but subtly so, smoothly gliding onwards into a heating, softly bittering finish in which a very whisky-like alcohol aspect takes over and overshadows the fruitiness of the hops, though dried orange peel, mandarin, sweet flowers and ginger-like aspects are still obvious enough; the hops provide a subtly rooty bitterness in an ongoing biscuity malt sweet profile heated by the alcohol. I like this series because each one is different and they constitute a long pedigree of classic English old ales inviting to compare vintages with one another, but so far I have found most of them to be a tad too hot in the alcohol department and this one is no different; other than that, I get the appeal of applying a fancy New World hop variety to a very old-fashioned English beer style, but this seems a bit contradictory considering these ales are intended for long-term aging. In this case, the hops still provide nasal sweetness, but in a faded and lightly cheesy way considering the age - which seems a bit of a pity. Interesting and flavorsome sipper like the others, but not the best one I had in this series so far and somehow I was expecting more.
Tried
from Bottle
on 10 Feb 2019
at 18:01