Fuller's Vintage Ale

 Origin: UK | Date: 2015 | ABV: 8.5% | On The Beer Nut: August 2008

We have added a best before date of December 2025 as this exceptional ale will improve for many years to come, like a fine wine or whisky.

So wrote Mr Keeling on the box, and I can't help feeling I'm being a bit premature in opening this, but I reckon six or so years is plenty to take stock (no nerdy pun intended) of what this beer has become. I'm not sure Fuller's Vintage has been available in these parts for some time now so I can't compare with a fresh one, and it's been over a decade since I last tasted it so don't ask me what it's originally like.

This one is a handsome amber shade, with surprisingly decent off-white head retention. It smells of caramel and raisins, which is probably not far off the original. There are certainly no early signs of agedness. And few in the flavour, too. It's rich and fudge-like, with a slightly harder toffee edge and a smidge of buttery shortbread: a raid on the tartan tins in the Scottish giftshop of your choice.

A faint vinousness suggests port or sherry, indicating that this is still in the early phases of transformation. Oxygen-influenced, but not oxidised. I reckon there are a few years left in it yet. And, as befits a beer purposefully built for ageing, I detect a distinct robustness about it, an open challenge to the ravages of time to do their worst. I think this will get better, exceedingly enjoyable and all that it is now. Seems Mr Keeling was right all along.