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Fullers IPA

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 3:54 pm
by Malcolm
Anyone heard of this? I was told that it is on cask at The Rhino so I had a few yesterday and quite liked it. Very citrusy, easy to drink. And unlike other Fuller products around town, I'm pretty sure this is actually cask-conditioned.

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 3:55 pm
by Malcolm
Oops, meant this to go under the cask ale topic...

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 4:15 pm
by tupalev
Over the summer folks at the Rhino told me I was drinking cask Grand River Pale Ale. Not only had Rob not ever made such a beer, he hadn't delivered anything to the Rhino it some time. I'm not sure why they cannot go to the trouble of knowing what beer they serve, or why they make up names, but there ya go...

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 4:21 pm
by Belgian
I all comes out of three big factories anyway, all the beer in the world is the same.

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 4:51 pm
by kwjd
Fuller's IPA is on the list for Volo's Cask Days so I will likely try it this weekend.

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 5:29 pm
by Malcolm
@tupalev:
I was once told I was being poured a Durham Hop Head when in fact it was the Black Katt! I usually just ask for a taste when I'm there, instead of asking anyone.

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 7:34 pm
by Belgian
Malcolm wrote:@tupalev:
I was once told I was being poured a Durham Hop Head when in fact it was the Black Katt!
Same beer with food coloring, basically.

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:54 pm
by tupalev
@tupalev:
I was once told I was being poured a Durham Hop Head when in fact it was the Black Katt! I usually just ask for a taste when I'm there, instead of asking anyone.

Black Katt as Hop Head, that wins! :lol:

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:35 pm
by SteelbackGuy
Fullers IPA is one of my favourite pubs!

Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 11:15 am
by GregClow
Malcolm wrote:Oops, meant this to go under the cask ale topic...
Couldn't fix that for you, but I moved it from the Good Pub Reviews folder to Beer Reviews folder at least... :wink:

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 9:55 pm
by G.M. Gillman
Tonight, having dinner at Twisted Kilt, I inquired casually after the beers "on the pump". I was told there was Fuller's ESB, which they said commendably was not a real ale but an English draft beer, Fuller's India Pale Ale - a cask ale - Fuller's Red Fox, - a second Fuller's cask ale - and Black Oak Pale Ale. Taken aback to be offered an English real ale - two of them - in a Toronto local without any fanfare, I ordered the IPA. It was superb, just a little fizzy with an intense, quinine-like bitterness. I never got to taste the Red Fox. (I've had the Black Oak before which is excellent as many here know).

Over 30 years after reading Michael Jackson's encomium to English real beer and particularly those of his home town in his first books, I found the very thing in a Toronto pub. (Since the beer has appeared at some other pubs lately as a special offering one hopes Fuller cask beers will become a permanent addition to the import offerings here). $6.50 a pint. I'll be back.

Gary

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 7:42 am
by Derek
I still don't really get these small IPA's. Any thoughts on the authenticity of this one?

Nice find on the 'drawback' Gary:
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2009 ... -myth.html

You'd think the OG would've been at least 1.055. But I think they would have been paler with more attenuation (without as much residual sweetness), so there wouldn't be as much souring during their voyage.

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 8:02 am
by G.M. Gillman
That drawback rule existed at a certain time, I am not sure if it did from the 1780's to mid-19th century. I think really what the quotation was saying as Ron Pattinson explained was that the beers were stronger than the brewers wanted them to be, in this later period anyway. I still think they would have been fermented out on the trip over and the net effect therefore was stilll a dry beer but probably over 6% ABV instead of weaker as brewers wanted. They did not want it too strong because the hot climate of export markets generally called for a medium-strength beer. (One of the many research findings Ron Pattinson has made is that IPA was not always or typically a high-strength brew).

The Fuller's IPA recently available in Toronto is fairly dry in taste, possibly less attenuated than some 1800's examples, hard to say, but very good. I had some from two casks, one at Volo, one at Twisted Kilt, and both were excellent but slightly different as one would expect of real ale. The St. Andre Barley Juice by the way at Volo recently struck me as a beer in this stronger IPA style, very well-hopped and not too malty. It was excellent, an excellent interpretation of the style in my opinion.

Gary

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 9:08 am
by G.M. Gillman
Derek, just on the point of colour, no question many pale ales in the 1800's were light-coloured, not amber. But some pale ales were amber. The term pale ale, from my reading, was not always used consistently. For example, in Michael Combrune's 1700's brewing text he sometimes uses the term pale to mean one or the other colour and of course there would have been infinite shadings.

A very good local IPA is of course the Granite's IPA - the colour is very correct certainly, the taste is excellent. Mill Street IPA on cask at the Distillery District also is excellent.


Gary

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 9:22 am
by Derek
Yes, "pale" is certainly a relative term. The original IPAs were probably entirely 'pale malt' (though it may not have been as pale as it is today). Adding any other malt (with sugars that the ale yeast could not ferment, but which could be spoiled by the barrel bugs) just doesn't make sense.

For modern brews, I still think that adding crystal malt to an IPA is just wrong!

I thought the Fullers was a great pale ale, but at only 4.8% and 30 IBU, I'm not sure it would ever have been considered an IPA.

Locally...

I'm not typically fond of lower gravity IPAs. I prefer Granite's dry-hopped Bitter over their IPA (which was developed in the land of Keiths), though their hopping mad is now my pint of choice (but I do love their stout as well).

Durham's Hop Head is one of my all-time favourite casks.