Stash Killer!: January 2022

Thursday, 6 January 2022

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.

What is this?

A floor was installed in my attic in 2008. I've used it to store beer ever since. It's particularly handy in winter when everything inside is kept at perfect drinking temperature. And right from the early days I began hoarding odd bottles, ones I'd already reviewed on my main blog and I thought it might be fun to leave them aside to see how they age, or to drink on a special occasion. The problem is, in seven years, the special occasion never arises. I'm the luckiest fucker alive: every day is a cause for jubilation, and it never seems to occur that I should probably mark this with a celebratory vintage beer.

But no more. The stash is getting out of hand, I'm no closer to actually drinking any of it, and I've begun to worry about fires, earthquakes, sudden death, or any number of other inconveniences that might prevent me from getting to those bottles. So today begins the project to do just that. I reckon a blog is the way to encourage me to keep it going. It won't be as regular as The Beer Nut, it won't cover beers I haven't already written about there, and it's not as open-ended: there is only a finite amount of liquid up there, after all.
-- November 2015