“A smooth, well balanced and fruity beer. 1909 Pale Ale is the Tenth beer in our celebrated Past Masters series, which sees long-lost recipes revived from our famous brew books. Every single afternoon since 1845, the Fuller’s brewing team has diligently written out the ingredients of the day’s brews – and the Past Masters series is a great example of why we do it.”

Glassware: English Pint.

Appearance: Golden amber with a fluffy two finger head. Good retention and lots of spotty lace as it ebbs.

Aroma: Initially we pick up a certain tangy orange note which reminds us of Jaffa. It morphs in to marmalade and then eventually apricot/rockmelon. It has a bit of a syrupy note which we’re not totally fond of. It’s quite yeasty too, providing estery pear/apple, butterscotch and banana. Very chewy and doughy malt profile filling it out.

Flavour: The yeast esters are even more pronounced here – banana, apple/pear, tangy orange, chewy caramels and butterscotch. Again the syrupy sweetness is a little cloying. Doughy malts providing a hint of toasty-ness as it finishes a little sticky and sweet with hints of candied orange and banana.

Mouthfeel: Surprisingly light for its size. – 8.7% ABV. A little chewy and gelatinous, flat-ish Co2.

Overall: It has traits of our very own Cooper’s Vintage Ale (which personally we think is better than this). Love the acknowledgement to the history of this brewery but the actual beer itself doesn’t really float our boat.