The Bar Towel

GregClow wrote:The following beers will be included in the Fuller's Brewery Feature, arriving in select LCBO stores in the week of Nov 6th:

LCBO# / Name / Size / alc./vol. / Price
263988 / Fuller's Past Masters Double Stout / 500 / 7.5 / $3.75
263954 / Fuller's Golden Pride / 500 / 8.5 / $3.75
263962 / Fuller's India Pale Ale / 500 / 5.3 / $3.75
266841 / Fuller's Old Winter Ale / 500 / 5.3 / $3.75
263970 / Fuller's Past Masters XX Strong Ale / 500 / 7.5 / $3.75

Has anybody seen these on the shelves yet? I am SO looking forward to this release!

Ceecee wrote:

GregClow wrote:The following beers will be included in the Fuller's Brewery Feature, arriving in select LCBO stores in the week of Nov 6th:

LCBO# / Name / Size / alc./vol. / Price
263988 / Fuller's Past Masters Double Stout / 500 / 7.5 / $3.75
263954 / Fuller's Golden Pride / 500 / 8.5 / $3.75
263962 / Fuller's India Pale Ale / 500 / 5.3 / $3.75
266841 / Fuller's Old Winter Ale / 500 / 5.3 / $3.75
263970 / Fuller's Past Masters XX Strong Ale / 500 / 7.5 / $3.75

Has anybody seen these on the shelves yet? I am SO looking forward to this release!

They're just starting to be listed on the LCBO site, but no stock yet showing. So they may start appearing in stores as soon as a week ... hopefully.

Good news, thanks for that.

The Past Masters are definitely historical recreations. The XX sounds like a strong ale but of mild character in 1800's terms, i.e., emphasizing the malt and not intended to be dry/lactic (like Gales Prize Old Ale, say).

The Double Stout would be a typical 1800's-style brown stout, the higher gravity version of porter with more body and hops. This style was aged or vatted to a certain point, less as the 1800's wore on, so we'll have to see what character Fuller gives it, but it will be very good I'm sure.

Old Winter Ale is probably a Burton Ale style, albeit lower gravity than Burton Ale was in the 1800's. Generally rich-bodied and not that hoppy relatively.

Golden Pride is a modern staple of Fuller's brewery, I'd think its heritage broadly is 1800's strong ale and on the mild side i.e. not strongly hopped.

The IPA is of course an IPA! It should be reasonably bitter - more than the others mentioned except maybe the stout - and the body will depend on the point of conditioning at the time of consumption.

Anyway it all sounds great.

Gary

El Pinguino wrote:Nice listing will have to sample them all I think!

On a related Fullers note, how well does the Vintage Ale, which is part of the Xmas release, age?

Reason I ask, I just found 9 bottles of various vintages back to 2006. I seem to be missing last years though, might need to trade for it.

I'm pretty sure they are made for aging. I've got one from 2007 that I bought as a treat during a time I was low on cash. But now I've had it 4 years and can't figure out any time special enough to open it.

ErkLR wrote:

El Pinguino wrote:Nice listing will have to sample them all I think!

On a related Fullers note, how well does the Vintage Ale, which is part of the Xmas release, age?

Reason I ask, I just found 9 bottles of various vintages back to 2006. I seem to be missing last years though, might need to trade for it.

I'm pretty sure they are made for aging. I've got one from 2007 that I bought as a treat during a time I was low on cash. But now I've had it 4 years and can't figure out any time special enough to open it.

Yea I think if you look on the back labels of some of the newer years at least they say how the best before date is like a few years in the future but how they only put it on their for legal reasons and that they can be stored for up to 10 years or something. The fullers online shop still has bottles of the 2000 Vintage Ale for sale, for people who live in the UK of course.

The Aurora store is showing some stock as listed on the LCBO site

The Fullers Vintage was based on the Golden Pride, but different years use different malt & hop varieties. It's definitely a brew you can cellar. I like how the malts seem to come together and the heat from the alcohol fades, but sometimes I wish they used more hops, as they fade as well.

Nice,
I'll have to track down a 2010 Vintage Ale then....,might be fun to save them up for a few more years and have a 10-year series of them.

XX Strong Ale, Old Man Winter and Golden Pride are in Aurora. Just grabbed a couple of each.

The full range of five is (at 4:00 pm. today) at the LCBO next to St. Lawrence Market. I picked up one of each. There are about 5 other GTA stores which have them, just check on the LCBO website. (One is Eglinton & Laird). I will offer comments as the threads open under Reviews.

Gary

Queen/Cox is already cleaned out and I go by there frequently. Just the XX strong remains.

Belgian wrote:Queen/Cox is already cleaned out and I go by there frequently. Just the XX strong remains.

I was there just after opening yesterday and there was plenty of IPA and the two Past Masters. No sign of the Old Winter Ale that the website says is there.

Interesting to see how popular Laker Ice is. Multiple people were buying it by the armload.

I got 4 of the 5 at King & Spadina yesterday. The Golden Pride was missing (not yet in stock), but the others were there.

I must also commend April, the employee who was very helpful in getting the beers for me. None were on the shelves despite being listed on the inventory, so she went digging. She found cases of two of them on a trolley that had just been brought out for stocking, and went into the back to get bottles of the other two for me. Excellent & friendly service all around.

Very similar story at Leaside store. The beers are not yet on the shelves (as of 10 a.m. this morning) but are there if you ask, except that the Golden Pride seems to be missing. I was also told they are "going fast". Perhaps they never will make the shelf. Seem to be quite limited quanitites in the stores that have received them so far -- just 24 of each?

I decided to start with the Old Winter Ale. It is pretty nice. Can't wait to try the Past Masters ones!