- Fuller’s Vintage Ale 2026 arrives in the Fuller’s Griffin Brewery shop and on Waitrose shelves in October.
- First launched in 1997, the Vintage Ale series is Fuller’s annual celebration of brewing heritage, craftsmanship, and quality of ingredients.
- Bottle-conditioned and crafted for ageing, Vintage Ale 2026 continues a tradition that has made the series one of Britain’s most celebrated annual beer releases.
Fuller’s is once again showcasing the best of Griffin Brewery’s craft, heritage and innovation with its Vintage Ale series, with its 2026 recipe now available.
Blending modern hop varieties from the Old World and the New World, Vintage Ale 2026 is a sweet, moderately bitter ale with an ABV of 8.4%.
Crafted using UK grown hop, Jester®, which gives citrus and stone fruit notes, and from the US, Dolcita™, which delivers peach, berry and orange flavours. This, combined with a malt bill that has extra dark crystal for raisin and fruitcake notes and Caragold for caramel sweetness, all complements the zesty flavours from the Fuller’s yeast to give a classic Vintage Ale.
As with previous Vintage Ales, it is bottled-conditioned, containing a small amount of live yeast that will mature the ale over time.
Vintage Ale 2026 is available in 9-gallon firkins and will be distributed in a number of Fuller, Smith & Turner outlets. It also comes in 500ml bottles on the Griffin Brewery shop and from Waitrose in October.
Guy Stewart, Brewing Manager at Asahi UK, said: “For the past six years of Vintage Ales, we have primarily looked at English hops or those in UK breeding programmes. However, this year we were struck by Dolcita™, a new hop from the US, with its promise of peach, caramel and orange notes.
“We paired it with Jester® – an English hop and the sister of Olicana®, which was used in the 2021 Vintage – to really bring out stone fruit and citrus notes in the finished beer.
“We think this has worked extremely well. Vintage Ale 2026 has a lovely stone fruit aroma with a hint of vanilla citrus. This aroma complements the raisin, fruitcake and burnt sugar notes coming from the malt bill to give a classic Vintage Ale experience.”
The launch forms part of Fuller’s wider activity celebrating the heritage, craftsmanship and quality of the Griffin Brewery during Cask Ale Week. Alongside the annual Vintage Ale release, Fuller’s will support London Pride through a programme of consumer promotions, point-of-sale activity in trade and digital content designed to champion cask ale and the brewery’s brewing credentials.
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