Fuller's Past Masters 1893 Double Stout
Bottled; Special - Past Masters series.
Note: Prior to the official release in bottle of Past Masters Double Stout in 2011, the beer was available as a special at several beer festivals but was badged as Fuller’s Imperial Stout. It has not been available in cask format, or under this name since the bottle release. The 10.7% Fullers Imperial Stout released in 2013 is an entirely different beer.
Double Stout is the second in the series, brewed to a recipe from 4th August 1893 – a time when ’stout’ meant ’strong’. Its signature ingredient is Plumage Archer barley, carefully malted and kilned using 19th Century methods. Dark, brown and creamy this beer is brewed to 7.4% ABV and balances a rich fruity aroma with smoky, bittersweet chocolate notes.
Note: Prior to the official release in bottle of Past Masters Double Stout in 2011, the beer was available as a special at several beer festivals but was badged as Fuller’s Imperial Stout. It has not been available in cask format, or under this name since the bottle release. The 10.7% Fullers Imperial Stout released in 2013 is an entirely different beer.
Double Stout is the second in the series, brewed to a recipe from 4th August 1893 – a time when ’stout’ meant ’strong’. Its signature ingredient is Plumage Archer barley, carefully malted and kilned using 19th Century methods. Dark, brown and creamy this beer is brewed to 7.4% ABV and balances a rich fruity aroma with smoky, bittersweet chocolate notes.
3.8
234 reviews
Chiswick, England
Community reviews
Really dark, medium dark head. The aroma is a bit weak compared to other is’s. The taste is great though, a bit spikey and not too sweet, but with a really long finish.
When I tried this beer I fell in love. But that was a long long time ago. I raved about the hop quality that made this brew unique. Looking at it now it probably needed to be aged. English hop character in a stout is very nice though and if I can ever get my hands on an english hopped black ipa this beer will at least give me hope for it working out.
I am going to rate this from memory as it is no longer available and for what I would give it now instead of the 10/10 i would have given it before trying some of the worlds best beers.
Black as pitch with a short espresso-like head. Nose is of molasses and soy sauce and a gentle whack of chocolate, coffee and ash. Lovely creamy mouthfeel with upfront soft liquorice and dried figs. The malts are definitely chocolate heavy and combine with the bitterness into a vinous style quite like port. At the end it resolves into leather and a hint of tobacco. A fine beer and a delight to drink.
Bottled 22/02/14. A black beer with barely any head. A slick salty strong stout. Oily notes. Bags of coffee and chocolate flavours. Very nice to drink. A really lovely flavour profile. Good stuff.
Pours black with some carbonation and low latte brown head
Aromas of roasted malts, chocolate, tar, hints of dark fruits
Taste has dark chocolate, tar, coffee, hints of caramel
Nice mouthfeel, medium bodied with low to medium bitter ending
Bottle - BBE date Apr 2014; Drank Oct 2013 - BCA; sedimented. Very Dark Brown, almost Black, in colour. Very Malty; roasty malts, lots of bitter dark chocolate, liquorice, coffee, toffee, lots of smoke, tar. Fruity; dried dark fruits, raisins. Hoppy; earthy and spicy peppery hops. Creamy and rich; full bodied. Good malt/fruit/hop balance. Sweet-bitter roasty smokey malty with lots of chocolate throughout; dry finish. Lovely Foreign Stout!
Aroma: coffee, dark chocolate and roasted malts. Appearance: black, small brown head. Taste: light sweet, some bitterness. Palate: light bitterness getting quite strong, medium to long dry finish. Overall: nice Foreign Stout, maybe slightly on the bitter side. Bottle from Kris Wines, London.
Bottle 500 ml from La Cave du Haut Jura - St Laurent-en-Grandvaux (F). Black beer with average tan head. Torrefied aromas, chocolate-coffee, licorice, tobacco and leather. The taste is roasted but soft with the same note as in aroma. Silky and smooth texture. Notes of toffy-licorice, earth, rusk, complex torrefaction and smoke point. Dry, bitterness of hops and roasting melted, pleasurable.
Helt okej! Inte den bästa struten jag druckit. Långt ifrån Fullers vanliga kvalitet. Besviken på doften smaken däremot var bra. Mycket brända toner kan förnimma mig om lite lakrits med.
Heavy alcohol aroma with some chocolate. No alcohol taste but a good taste of coffee, chocolate and easy laktris. The aftertaste is of good coffee flavor that fills the mouth a long time. Excellent beer! Follow me @ Kung av öl @ Facebook for more pictures and ratings.
How: Bottle.
Where: Systembolaget.
Appearance: Black colour with a small brown head.
Aroma: Liquorice, roasted malt, alcohol, dried fruit.
Body: Medium body, low carbonation.
Flavour: Roasted malt, caramel, liquorice, chocolate.
50 cl bottle, Calgary, AB, Canada via Mulmur. Deep brown, almost black. Very thin head. Heavily rosed malt and resin aroma. Dark chocolate. Strong resin and green veg flavour, bright hops, then a bitter coffee roasted malt on the finish.
Sour damp concrete nose. Rich thick tan head. Medium full mouth feel with good density and some long dry rich earthy sappiness. Polished with a degree of class and a dark lingering roastiness at the end. Really impressive.
A two year old bottle pouring a deep dark black-brown, it has a tart vinous nose with notes of soy sauce and just faintly of chocolate and smoke. There’s more umami on the palate, along with faintly sour and burnt-bitter liquorice and bitter chocolate. A hoppy bitter and burnt finish retains that woody soy edge. I wish now that I’d tried it fresh on cask for comparison. Re-rate at 9 years old, wood ash and espresso on the nose, smooth and creamy-dry, umami and dry cocoa. Nice.
Room temp bottle. Black, decent foamy off-white head endures. Smell is quite metallic, a bit soapy, some toffee. Body is medium, bit foamy. Taste - milk chocolate up front, redcurrents, ashy finish. Smell and body aren’t great, but the taste keeps me coming back to it. Quite nice, and I’ll give this one the benefit of the doubt.
Sort i farven, med beige skum. Aroma av søtlig kaffe og noe røyk. Relativt fresk i nasen! Smaken er preget av sjokolade og brentmalt, og dette i kombinasjon med en ganske markant bitterhet og betydelig fylde gjør dette til en øl som sloss noen hakk over sin vektklasse. Strålende britisk øl.
Bottle sample at a tasting at the Beer & Beyond shop. Thanks Tom. Black, opaque with tan ring, roast, ink, blackberries and soy aroma, umami, delicate roast, coffee and soy taste. Medium-to-full body, smooth texture, delicate body.
Bottle sample at a tasting at the Beer & Beyond shop. Thanks Tom. Pours opaque black with a medium beige head, aroma of port, chocolate, honey, soy and brandy, flavor of coffee, smoke and light acidity, medium body
Bottle sample at a tasting at the Beer & Beyond shop. Thanks Tom. Dark brown to black with a beige to light brown head. Great roasty aroma full of dark chocolate and a bit of soy sauce. Sweetish flavor with lots of chocolate, continues drier and roasty. Medium to full-bodied, silky mouthfeel.
Smak och doft av choklad, kaffe, karamell, laktris, toner av rök och apelsin. Lagom sötma, len och krämig munkänsla med en bra bitter beska. En riktigt god stout med klassisk engelsk känsla.
Bottle 0,50L. Black coloured, with small beige creamy head, that goes into a crown and stays until the end. Aroma of dark chocolate, caramel, coffee, smoke and lasts long. It’s very smooth and creamy and it’s real plessure to drink. It’s maybe not overall 5, but when we’re talking stout, it’a a winner for me!
Chris O’s FullersGales Tasting Feb 2012. Chalky. Raw tuna. Cotton. Chocolate. Tasty.
Thanks for sharing Gabriel!
Pours nearly opaque black/brown with an orange highlight. Smallish light tan head that falls to a ring. The smell is dark roasted malt, chocolate, licorice. The taste is roast, dry right off the bat, dark chocolate, hint of coffee with a dry finish and slight bitterness. Medium/full in body with medium carbonation. Overall it is a nice beer but not amazing.
Pitch black with a medium sized offwhite/tan head. Roasty malty aroma with licorice in the nose. Taste is licorice aswell, with chocolate, leather and coffee. Tobacco and cocoa in the aftertaste.
Bottle. Pours a black colour with a beige head, rich malty aroma with hints of chocolate and coffee, the taste is bitter with roasted malt with a rich dry finish.
Bottle at the Duke of Wellington, NZ. Full marks. Aromas of caramel, chocolate, toffee, vanilla, with hints of alcohol and dark fruit. Taste is sweet, with bitter notes, and very long length. Palate is great: creamy, full body. Black, with a frothy head.
The olive/leathery aroma of some of these stouts is getting into my nostrils and under my nerves. Yes, it does get stronger on the chocolate character of the aroma, but the first whiff is less than exciting for a stout. Pours black, nice, with a creamy head and perhaps too many rainbow bubbles on top. Big ones. Flavours of coffee (too much of it), charred malts, chocolate, and some not too nice sourness. Plenty of bitterness too - feeling like burnt-beans bitterness. The full-bodied beer is oily, astringent and rather sticky (tannin) on the tongue. Fine, but not among my top twenty stouts.
Bottle at home from fullers online. Darkest brown with fluffy cola head. Tobacco, dates and sultanas on the nose. Thick, rich, toffee, redcurrant, toast, chocolate, gentle carbonation, long roast coffee finish.
Pours solid black, but not thickly. Nose full of molasses, coffee and vanilla, smooth rich and warm in the mouth. Softly textured, carrying a full on wallop of booziness, fading to a delicious cream-and-coffee aftertaste. A delicious beer, smoother and richer than most stouts; the alcohol carries a delicious roundness that just keeps propelling a strong, full dark-ale flavour along.
Herb-malziger Beginn, würzig, erstaunlich hell, mild, röstig, Karamellnoten. Malziger werdend, recht trocken. Dann röstiger werdend, geringe Süße. Nett, kräftig malzig im Abgang. 9/10/11/11/11/11