Fuller’s Brewer’s Reserve No.4 Oak-Aged Ale (Limited Edition), 8.5%abv. (Oak-Aged Ale)

Purchased from the Fuller’s online shop, this edition is oak-aged for 365 days in Old Comte de Lauvia Armanac (VSOP) casks. Bottle No. 34361, BB End 2022 (ten years away!), served cool in a tulip-shaped long-stemmed wine sniffer. Note: Today is the Chinese New Year’s Day, the first day of the Year of the Snake. I suppose an unusual ale like this suffices to carry us (me and Lub my wife) happily through to the new year with plenty of new experiences and brand new perspectives to look forward to!

4/5 Appearance: abundant flows of microscopic fizziness to boot, creamy beige head lasts well, even following a force pour; the colour is dark copper to mahogany, while it turns rather tawny when seen right against light.

3.5/5 Smell: mainly malty and ripe&sweet plummy fruity on the nose, littered with traces of cherry skins and very mild toffees; given a very good swirl, sour-sweetness from overripe fruits resurfaces and goes hand in hand with the rather subtle sour-ish oakiness as of, well, Calvados instead of Armanac brandy, in my opinion.

3.5/5 Taste: a lightly musty edge of brandy’s woodiness, Calvado-like apply-oakiness and salty-sweet elements as of old pineapple mingle well in the effervescent, creamy foretaste, pairing the otherwise mildly-flavoured, nectar-ish and barley-candy like malty main theme, not unlike the Goldings- and Pale Malt-dominated Golden Pride. There’s very little sign of a “middle” taste in each sip, as the foretaste quietly grows into a pretty neutral, lightly chewy and mildly bitter finish, where the both wings of the tongue experience a somewhat… black-olive-ish spicy touch (sounds weird?).

4/5 Mouthfeel: due to the microscopic fizziness, the palate is kept refreshing and smooth at the same time, but this is not unexpected if judging from the fact that the ale is less than 1.5 years old.

3.5/5 Overall: All in all, I can’t seem to notice and enjoy more assertive influence from the Armanac oak-ageing on the beer base, but the musty, old-ish feel from the barrels certainly has balanced off, or, “consumed” the otherwise rich and dense barleywine base. The potential for ageing? I really don’t know. I could foresee the more exotic woody elements and yeastiness to interact and evolve into an interestingly acidic and dry-ish palate overtime, but flavour-wise it is hard to imagine any significant evolvement to take place over the next five-six years. I’ve got four more bottles in my mini-cellar, so will report back if my observation is proved wrong!

--Yau (10/02/2013)