A little too light for my tastes (Fullers Summer Ale)

Member Name: christh

Product:	Fullers Summer Ale
Date:	26/08/04 (60 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Low alcohol (3.9%), Fairly easy to drink

Disadvantages: Lack of taste

Fuller's refreshing summer ale
Fuller's.

Overview:
During the Summer months, many breweries offer 'lower-impact' versions of their stronger ales to ease the thumping headaches that can occur with too heavy a beer mixed with scorching beer-garden sun. No fear of that at the time of writing however, as we're currently enjoying the wettest August I can remember. But anyway, in brief, this is a light ale pitched at those who would like an alternative to having to drink cheap fizzy lager. The alcohol content is 3.9%.

And I've just read the other (excellent) review on this product from years gone by, and I'm afraid to say this ale didn't quite strike me in the same way as it did the previous reviewer.

Drinkability:
Upon opening it and taking my first swig, I was somewhat disappointed by the lack of flavour. I took another just to be sure -- hmmm nope. I hate to make this comparison but taking small sips I found the drink to be approaching Budweiser levels of untaste (not good!). There is a slight malty aftertaste, however, so it's not all bad here. I found taking big gulps a requirement for the ale to be rendered enjoyable. I'm drinking this after having a large dinner, which in retrospect probably isn't the best time for drinking a light ale. Relaxing on a hot sunny afternoon in the garden with friends, or outside in the beer garden of a quiet pub would be a more ideal environment. I may well try it again in those circumstances if we get any more sun this Summer.

Sessionability:
All that said, the beer is extremely drinkable, very unchallenging. There is a slight fizz to it, but nothing like the carbonated concoctions that most lagers are. I didn't find it particularly tasty though, but I got the feeling that adding a slice of lemon to it or o
therwise adding some citrus flavours would improve the drinkability enormously.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, I wasn't entirely bowled over by this ale. It's a very weak drink, in fact probably the weakest ale I've ever drunk - which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if it tasted good, which in my opinion it doesn't particularly. I felt it lacked flavour and was a little dull. But it certainly achieves what it sets out to do, that is to be a light refreshing summer ale. And it sure beats drinking water (although it's debatable which will get you tiddly quicker!)

I was disappointed, but I may try it in a pub to see if it's any better second time round - 4/10

Current price is £1.66 at Sainsbury's (and they have a 20% discount this week on all bottled ales!)

Summary: