London - Vintage wines have long been an investment opportunity for wealthy connoisseurs, but now there’s a £250.80-a-bottle (about R5 800) beer – possibly Britain’s priciest pint.
Fuller’s 1997 Vintage Ale can be bought online or at Fuller’s pubs in the South and is an eye-watering 6 032 percent dearer than the brewer’s £4.09 Vintage 2016 ale, for example.
That is followed by the 1998 edition at £237.60, then the 2000 brew, which is selling for £211.20.
Price variations are due to age, rarity and the different hops used each year – and more people are buying vintage beer as an investment.
The Parcel Yard pub, in Kings Cross station, London, is one of a number of select bars serving a range of Fullers Vintage Ales.
A barman there said that the 2000 ale’s £211 price tag is not putting drinkers off, adding: “People do order it. I have sold a few but it’s really rare. I have tasted it, it’s nice, it’s quite strong.”
Other pubs selling the ales include the Admiralty in Trafalgar Square or London’s Pride in Heathrow’s Terminal 2.
John Keeling, head brewer at Fuller’s, said: “We have been producing a Vintage Ale every year since 1997 – and the older, rarer ones are now commanding a large price. There is a lot of interest in beer at the moment – and we are even seeing people looking to buy it as an investment.
“Our Vintage Ale can be stored or savoured here and now and uses the best malt and hops the growers have to offer each year.”
He added: “We suggest you buy at least three bottles – drink one now, drink one in three years and save the other for a very rainy day when the value has increased – and just hope that everyone else hasn’t had the same idea.”
Patrick Dawson advises in his book Vintage Beers that only strong beers – more than eight percent ABV – will age well although smoked or sour beers with lower alcohol content may work. They need to be kept in the dark at low temperatures – around 12C (55F).
Mr Dawson, who lives in Vicenza, Italy said: “The vast majority of beers should not be aged. Ninety-nine percent should be drunk immediately.” But he explains that when ageing works, the results can be delicious as the beer becomes smoother and loses “rough edges”. The difference between sherry and young wine is the difference between vintage beer and pilsner. The purpose of ageing is to develop unique flavours you’d never find in a young wine. The sorts of flavours that can develop are often on the “dry-fruit side” – such as figs, raisins, or candied plums and pineapple.’
Matured beers such as stouts taste more like molasses, dark chocolate and amaretto and with lighter beers it’s more likely to be treacle, golden syrup, and maple syrup, he said.
Brewers are increasingly releasing beers with a “best-after” date – say 2020 – instead of a best before date, he said. While Mr Dawson would not pay over £200 for the Fullers Vintage ale, he said he paid a similar price for a 1968 Thomas Hardy ale brewed by now-defunct British brewer Eldridge Pope, based in Dorchester.
The beer was advertised as being intended to ferment in the bottle for 25 years.
In his tasting notes for specialist brewing website Draft, Mr Dawson wrote: “One drink transports you to a cosy English parlour with aspects like tobacco, leather and wood all mingling with dried fruit, molasses and sherry.”
Daily Mail