Cracked open a bottle of Fullers Vintage (2000) for my first ever Open It!  It was aquired during the Fullers Brewery tour during the Sunday tasting seeion at the Brewery as part of the European Beer Bloggers Conference last May and has been siting under my bed ever since.

Today was a perfect occasion for opening the Beer having just run the Tunbridge Wells half marathon.  The 8.5% ale went straight to my head after running that and gave that lovely euphoric feeling that is so relaxing.

I remember drinking this beer at the Beer Bloggers Conference and comparing it against the later years versions.  The 2000 ediation is certainly one of the best.  It gives off a rich fruity aroma with hints of alcohol.  Sipping this beer is heavenly and so many rich  flavours come through such as malty, rich fruits and smooth toffee.  Its a lovely full bodied beer with a sweet mouthfeel.

A good celebration beer for a well run half marathon!

Another excuse for why I haven’t been blogging recently is that I took a 8 week trip to NZ. Its an absolutely amazing country…..and the beer aint bad either!

Some beer highlights:

- Epic Pale Ale (awesome flavours, majorly hoppy….what you would expect from Epic. Ive seen some Epic beers for sale in the UK – buy them).

- Epic Lager(one od the best, if not the best lager I have ever had! Hoppy flavour and perfect for just grabbing out the fridge and swigging, wish you could get this in the UK….Especially now that 77 lager is discontinued)

- Macs Brew Bars(cool bars with a great selection of class beers all brewed by Macs….Cool like Brewdog….but the chilled out version without the ridiculous beer).

- Ease of getting locally micro-brewed beers in the supermarket.

- Wanaka Beer Works(some award winning beers here…and Wanaka is so beautiful!).

- Boundary Bouncing Czech(Nice Pilsner from just outside Wellington).

- Plenty of hoppy pilsners available (Montieths Pilsner, Macs Hop Rocker, Bouncing Czech….the list could go on).

And thats just a taster!  Here is some pictures of some lovely NZ beers.