Fuller's Vintage Ale

Despite my rather entenched "beer-geekiness", this is actually my very first taste of any of the Fuller's Vintage Ales. I bought two of the 2004 batch, and made sure to stash one away for the long term. The other I chilled off, and gave it a try on a Saturday evening.

To be honest, I'm not sure what to make of this. A bit dull in the both the appearence and the mouthfeel -- what little carbonation this beer provided to the cause faded away away entirely too quickly for my tastes. The last half of this bottle seemed to be little more than a rather ruddy-red fizz-less imbibement, with nary a single wisp of head or lacing to mark it's prescence.

Carbonation issues aside, I can see the worthiness of this beer's flavor profile. That is to say, a very "English" stance, as far as the hop profile goes. Enough interesting things going on with both the malt bill and flavor profile to give this beer some life.

But it's so slow going in the mouthfeel (turgid, lifeless, almost boring) and the overall drinkability, that I have a hard time giving this much of a raving review, to be honest. Probably something that improves (greatly?) over time. But fresh out-of-the-gates, it just doesn't do a whole lot for me, to be honest....
//TB