Did it ever arrive? Did I blink and miss it? I just found some notes I made about a bottle of Fuller’s Summer Ale (3.9%) that I tried a while ago - it’s a seasonal beer that is available in cask as well as bottle form (but not at this time of year) –but if you can find a bottle lurking on a supermarket shelf somewhere,pick it up,as it is a true taste of summer –light in colour and taste,hoppy,aromatic and refreshing –it will bring back (false) memories of those long sunny summer days we enjoyed this year. When I drank this I thought that if I hadn’t already known that it was a Fuller’s beer,I would probably have been able to guess that it was. Regular drinkers of Fuller’s beers might know what I mean –there is just something about their beers. I feel the same about Marston’s beers as well –they seem to have a sort of “signature”taste –maybe it’s the Burton water.
On the subject of seasonal beers,and Fuller’s seasonal beers in particular,we don’t have a lot of Fuller’s pubs in my area,and those that we do have tend to stick to the better-known brands such as London Pride and ESB,so it’s rare for me to get the opportunity to sample a seasonal on draught. Part of the problem is knowing what seasonals are available at any given time. Perhaps I’ll keep a calendar of when each brewery produces each of its seasonals –watch this space.