Twenty-Nine Years in the Bottle: The Story of Fuller's Vintage Ale

In 1997, we brewed a beer we had no plans to repeat.

The idea behind Vintage Ale was simple: capture a single year in a bottle. Take that season's harvest, pick out the very best malt and hops, brew something that showed them off properly, then number every bottle and let time do the rest. A snapshot, nothing more.

Then 1998 came around, and we found ourselves doing it again. And again the year after that.

A tradition nobody planned

Nearly three decades later, that one-off has become one of the longest unbroken traditions in British brewing. A lot has changed at the Griffin Brewery in that time. Head brewers have come and gone. Barley varieties have drifted in and out of fashion. Hop fields have changed hands. But every autumn, without fail, one beer has been brewed, bottle-conditioned and released with its own year printed on the label.

Never the same beer twice

No two vintages have ever been identical, and that's exactly how it should be.

The 1998 was built around Champion Alexis malt and Northdown hops. In 2002, we marked the Queen's Golden Jubilee with Golden Promise malt and Goldings hops. Every release is a record of its moment, a little time capsule of what the fields gave us that year, and every one keeps quietly evolving long after it leaves the brewery.

This year's vintage

This year's release carries the line forward, and we think it's one of the finest yet.

As with every vintage before it, it's been brewed with its own unique blend of malts and hops and left to mature, picking up new layers of flavour as it ages, much like a fine wine. Our Head Brewer chose two hops: Dolcita and Jester, each with its own story to tell.

Dolcita is the newer of the pair, a New World Hop coming straight from the states. Vintage Ale 2026 marks one of its earliest outings in a British beer.

Jester, by contrast, is a familiar face from the Old World returning for a second appearance. It first featured in Vintage Ale back in 2020. 

Once brewed, this year's Vintage Ale was left to mature for three months before bottling. Time is used for the flavours to settle and develop, the same process behind every vintage ale since the very first. The result is a beer shaped by one new hop, one returning favourite, and months of patience. Vintage Ale 2026 is ready now.

Get it while you can

Every bottle is individually numbered, and this year's batch is strictly limited. Once it's gone, that's it. This exact beer will never be brewed again.

So whether you're adding to a collection that stretches back years or you simply can't wait to open one tonight, now's the time to secure your bottles. Click here to shop.

Somewhere out there, a cellar is waiting for it.