Fuller's Vintage Ale - Vertical Tasting

There is plenty that I should be blogging about from recent beer drinking ahead of last night's event but I have to get this written down while it is fresh in my memory.

A memorable evening spent in the company of the great and the good of the beer world, hosted by Fuller's senior executives in their Hock Cellar at the brewery, tasting all fifteen of the Vintage Ales from 1997 to the newly released 2011.

This will be the last time that all Vintages are tasted in one sitting, partly because 15 beers (of 8.5%) in one evening is a stretch for most people but also some of the older Vintages are becoming really scarce. There are only forty bottles left of the 1998. It does not appear in my collection so if you have a bottle left you have a real collectors item.

My beer cupboard : I know what I like ! (Missing 1998, 2001 and 2002)
The scarce 1998 now has a savoury character with notes of chocolate and liqueur. it is very smooth with hint of calvados. This was the 14th beer we tasted and my notes are less coherent => "still really good" says it all for me.

My favourite was the 2008 : less oxidised notes, a hint of cherry aroma, slightly more carbonated, still some fresh orange character and a really lovely smooth mouthful.

It was a hard evening. Everyone seemed to have a different favourite but the consensus is that this is a beer that ages very well, from six months to fifteen years there is a a full range of flavour profiles and different ageing characteristics.

Across the piece, each beer was identifiable as a Fuller's Vintage, largely due to the Fuller's yeast bringing its orange marmalade flavours to each beer. The ageing process brought something special to each beer. It is clear that ageing is not a linear process, peaking and then deteriorating; ageing changes the beers in a variable cycle over time. A beer that perhaps is a bit dull after say seven of eight years, can smooth out over the next two or three bringing back a sweetness and fruitiness that is part of the chemical change brought on by time alone. It was interesting to note that each beer still has a viable yeast count and a spritzy carbonation dispelling the myth that the yeast quickly dies in a bottle conditioned beer.

It was enlightening to hear beer discussed in the same serious way that is evident at a vertical vintage wine tasting. This is one of the world's greatest beers and deserves its place at the top table being honoured and revered by beer lovers worldwide.

Fuller's Vintage is brewed each year using the finest ingredients from that vintage. It is based on the recipe for Golden Pride but is bottle conditioned in a numbered limited edition. Once in the bottle the flavours continue to develop over time. Many vintages are always available at the Fuller's Brewery shop and the current edition is usually on the shelf at Waitrose at around £3.50 a bottle. (Approx 50% is sold during each year and the remaining 50% bought in future year by collectors and enthusiasts).

I must give a big thank you to Fuller's for their hospitality. The philosophy, standards and values of the company were at their most evident last night and fully deserve to be shouted about.

Finally in the interest of open disclosure, I am now CAMRA's Brewery Liaison Officer for Fuller's Brewery. It is no secret that I am a fan of Fuller's beers, being the nearest brewery to my home. Don't therefore be surprised to read more about them here in future.

Red Lion, Barnes - Beer Dinner

This evening looks like it will be a lot of fun with our favourite beer-world double act.

The Red Lion is a traditional Fullers pub in Barnes, SW13 with a great reputation for both beer and food.

I can't miss this and my tickets are already secured.

There is likely to be strong demand, so I suggest you reserve tickets soon if you wish to come along.

The Red Lion is on the bus route between Barnes and Hammersmith so both those stations are easily accessible. I'm going to walk !


From the press release :

Two local beer experts will be going head to head at The Red Lion in Barnes to persuade foodie customers who is the best beer matcher of them all.

Leading beer writer Melissa Cole and Chiswick brewery Fuller’s Head Brewer John Keeling have been challenged by The Red Lion’s managers Angus Mckean & Claire Morgan to match beers to a specially created menu. Both choices will then be served on the night with customers voting on their favourite match. Neither John nor Melissa will be aware of the other’s choices.

The ‘Battle of the Sexes’ event, designed provocatively to ‘find out who has the most taste – men or women’ will take place on Friday October 14th.

Angus said: “I know Melissa and John often have heated discussions about beer – how to describe the flavours, what tastes best with what – so I decided it was time to really put them to the test. I have no doubt our customers will get to try some amazing beer and food combinations – and they can watch the fireworks while they eat!”

Angus and Melissa have put together a mouth-watering (and belt-busting) six course menu including oysters steeped in Belgian lambic beer (made with wild yeasts), sweet potato and yam baskets with slow roast pork belly in plum sauce and pear tarte tatin with homemade Fuller’s Past Masters Double Stout ice cream. You’ll have to buy a ticket to find out the beer matches suggested by John and Melissa.

Head Brewer John Keeling said: “Beer is often overlooked as a match with food, but actually it often works better with many dishes than wine. And with finely crafted beers available from both the UK and abroad, now is the time to experiment. Forget about malbecs and muscadets, and try some porter and pale ales!”

Tickets to the event on October 14th are available from The Red Lion Barnes at £25 per head. Please call Angus on 020 8748 2984 or email redlionbarnes@fullers.co.uk

Beer Bloggers Conference - Fullers

The Sunday afternoon session of the Beer Bloggers Conference saw the delegates hot-footing it down the river to Fullers Brewery in Chiswick for a session on "The Effect of Ingredients on Beer" presented by master brewer, Derek Prentice.

Preceded with a tour of the brewery and followed by the best Sunday lunch you will ever have, Derek's talk and beer tasting included many beers from Fuller’s aged selection including Vintage Ales, Past Masters, and Brewers Reserves.

Thanks must go to Fullers for a marvellous end to a splendid weekend.

London Pride Walk 2011

I am always happy to give a shout-out for a good cause, particularly if it includes beer.

The 16th annual 10km London Pride Walk takes place from the Fullers Brewery at 11am on Sunday 19th June in support of Cancer Research UK, specifically Hammersmith Hospital.

I have enjoyed this event for many years; either walking, running (I was fit enough once), pub crawling (that's more like it - a slightly slower pace) and in the last couple of years volunteering to help the team from CRUK. It is a family event with a really friendly feeling, with local people supported by a local brewery raise funds for a local charity while having great fun.

I wrote about last years event here where you can see how much I enjoy the event (and the beer).

The route follows the Thames path over Chiswick and Hammersmith Bridges starting and ending at the Griffin Brewery.

The charge to join in is a fiver though plenty of people take it as an opportunity to raise extra sponsorship for the worthy cause.

Just pitch up and register on the day though the well organised should register in advance here.

I look forward to seeing one or two of you on the day.

A few more details from the press release :
The event starts at 11am and the 10km can be completed as a swift run, an easy jog or a relaxed stroll. Afterwards there will be many attractions in Homefield Park next to the brewery. Participants will be greeted at the end with a complimentary drink from sponsors Fullers. An organic BBQ is planned, massages for aching limbs, live music and lots of stalls and fair-like attractions. Scientists from Hammersmith Hospital will be there on the day to explain a little more about their research and will be extracting DNA from strawberries to demonstrate some of the techniques used.

How many pubs in a marathon ?

On Sunday 17th April the streets of central London will be pounded by the feet of the runners of the London Marathon. London's favourite brewery, Fuller's, are again showing the health benefits of a beer before, during and after exercise by sponsoring the event with the official beer of the marathon, London Pride.

This will also be demonstrated when the man dressed as a bottle of London Pride again beats the bottle of Lucozade to the finishing line. Fuller's staff will also be manning the various official cheering stations where you will be able to pick up your flag and enjoy a taster of the official beer.

Fuller's have also published a spectators guide - downloadable here - which shows a map of the course, the locations of the cheering stations and details of the real marathon, the 13 Fuller's pubs on or near the route plus a further 5 near the finish.

13 pubs in less than five hours - a marathon but slightly more achievable for me than 26 miles.

Cheers !

By the way, a funny thing happened yesterday. A kind person posted a link to my blog to the news stream http://www.reddit.com/.

As a result, instead of a couple of hundred people visiting, in the last 24 hours over 3,000 have dropped by.

If any of you have popped in for a second look, you are most welcome. It might just help to improve my Wikio blog ranking from a lowly 64th !

Otherwise I am going to be pretty embarrassed at the beer bloggers conference when they ask "now, which one of you has the lowest ranking blog ? "

Brainwave - Beer Tasting

I am more than happy to give a shout-out for anything that is beer related but I am delighted to be able to promote the following event as it also has an angle that can help others.

The children’s charity, Brainwave, is arranging an exclusive beer tasting at the Farmers’ Club on 30 November, where people can find out a little more about the complex world of beer, where the flavours come from and a little on the history of beer.

So not only can you have an entertaining and different evening and help a charity too.

The Farmers’ Club was founded in 1842 and is a private members' club not usually open to the public. The address is 3 Whitehall Court, London SW1A 2EL; nearest tube: Embankment.

The tasting is being undertaken by Christine Cryne, who chaired CAMRA’s 2010 Champion of Britain and is a member of the British Guild of Beer Writers. (Christine also happens to be the charity's Chief Executive).

Tickets are £28, including a buffet. The doors open from 6pm with an introductory drink with the tasting starting at 6.30pm.

The event is being supported by Greene King and Fuller’s breweries and will feature their beers plus others from small craft breweries from around the country.

Tickets are available from Isobel Kerry: isobelkerry@brainwave.org.uk; 07872 548 450 or download an application form from www.brainwave.org.uk

I guess this is more of a general interest event rather than a tasting for the hard-core beer-geek. If you belong to the latter crowd, why not just bung them the price of a pint here.

Take a look also at this inspiring video at http://uk.youtube.com/BrainwaveCentre

Honey, I've Drunk the Beers

I think I used that header last year but you must forgive me as I have been laid low with man-flu for what seems like weeks. I am now self medicating on fine ales and am hoping that a visit to the Dark Star showcase at the Cask, Pimlico tonight will help me shake off the lurgy completely.

Back to last week when myself and two other hardy souls headed off to the National Honey Show in Weybridge to judge the honey beer category in their annual competition.

As you can see this was serious stuff and we made sure we looked the part among all of the other honey judges who were shining the lights into the jars and dipping in their tasting sticks. We joined in by sniffing, swirling and tasting the range of beers brewed with honey.

The winning beer was Fullers Organic Honey Dew. In the previous year this beer was a big disappointment with very little honey character and a slightly dirty aroma.

This year it was much improved and walked off with the gold medal for its delicate honey aroma backed up with a taste that had a perfect balance of honey and malt sweetness combined with a very low bitterness making it a very tasty beer.

Our runner up was Lovibond Wheat Wine. A completely different style of beer and very difficult to judge alongside the Fullers Honey Dew. This is a 7.3% wheat (like barley) wine brewed with a large amount of local honey to balance the use of wheat and create a beautifully tasting beer balancing the sweet honey with the complex spicy esters developed by using wheat and brewing out to over 7%.

It was a close run thing but the drinkability of the Fullers Honey Dew and the more obvious use of honey on the label gave Fullers the edge.

Another fun morning in good company in the interest of good beer. The other judges were John Porter (left) and Tim Hampson (right).

Ealing Beer Festival

My beery recommendation this week will take you to Walpole Park, Ealing where West Middlesex CAMRA are hosting the twenty first Ealing Beer Festival.

Over 170 cask ales will be there including plenty of fruit beers from Coach House Brewery and rare casks of Fuller's Porter and Vintage (2009). I will be seeking out the Grateful Deaf beer from Yorkshire's Elland Brewery; a true American pale ale created by Ken Fisher of the Grateful Deaf Brewing Society based in Oregon. Ken is a regular visitor to the Great British Beer Festival and I am expecting his liaison with the superb Elland brewery to be something special.

There will be the usual mix of ciders and perries for those odd-folk who prefer them (no comment from me). The foreign beer bar has been excellent in past years and I expect it to have a good range from Belgiuum, Germany and Holland including a Dutch mushroom beer for the real fun guys and the legendary Rochefort 10 from Belgium - one of the World's greatest beers.

The festival is open from Wednesday 7th July to Saturday 10th and is a short walk from Ealing Broadway station. Directions are clear on the web-site. Free entry for CAMRA members before 4pm. If it stays dry and the sun comes out, I recommend a visit - see you there perhaps.

London Pride Walk

On Sunday I pitched up to help the Cancer Research UK team who organise the London Pride Walk in Chiswick each year.

The walk starts at Fuller's Brewery and follows the river as far as Chiswick Bridge to the south, crosses the river, follows the south of the river northwards to Hammersmith, over the river again and back to Fullers southbound along the north bank - are those directions clear ?

Ten kilometres, give or take, which most of the four hundred participants take as a leisurely, picturesque walk, though the more energetic run the distance to get back to Fuller's Brewery to rehydrate with London Pride and get an early go at the barbecue, raffle, cakes etc.

The really energetic take a long while to get back. Indeed some don't make it round the route at all. It is unsurprising given the quality of some of the pubs along the route that the most hardy get waylaid. The Ship in Mortlake, the White Hart and Bull's Head in Barnes, the excellent pubs on Hammersmith riverside all took in strays. Those who managed to pass all of those could not resist the Dove, one of London's famous watering holes and a refuge for Fuller's Ales to refresh on the warmest day of the year.

My part was played on the park next to the brewery, helping with supporting the admin and registration team so I did not get to see any riverside pubs. I did not go thirsty though as the clear attraction of the event for me can be supported by these photos.

This is an annual event, volunteer led by Cancer Research UK and Hammersmith Hospital with much tangible support by Richard Fuller, Fuller's Brewery and all of the Fuller's team. Everyone should show much Pride that over a million pounds has been raised over sixteen years. I will definitely flag this date earlier next year and will hopefully see more of my friends along the route.


The runners race off in a chase for a pint of London Pride

Fullers Fine Ale Club

Going through my mailbox, I notice that Fullers Fine Ale Club are asking all members to renew their membership to confirm that all members still wish to be members after the first ten years of the club.

This is timely to remind people that membership is free and comes with a free quarterly magazine to keep up-to-date with the beers coming out of the Griffin Brewery in Chiswick as well as various competitions, guest writers, events, merchandise etc.

Joining is as easy as ordering a pint. Follow the link or ring 08456 447663.

and, did I mention ? membership is free !

Adnams or Fullers IPA ?

Dropped into the Sun Inn in Barnes village last night. Was attracted by the Adnams American Style IPA - part of the Adnams seasonal beer program. This has the potential to be an excellent beer but on this occasion failed due to flavours of clove and butterscotch that spoiled the taste and aromas of sweet biscuity malt backed up by a strong American hop character. Look out for it - on a good day this beer will blow Fuller's Bengal Lancer away.

I like the new Bengal Lancer from Fuller's but I think it is overcome by the sweet orange character that comes from the Fuller's yeast in their stronger beers. I think a more liberal use of hops might have given the beer a more distinct IPA style. Both beers of course are aiming at balance to provide the regular beer drinker with variety and choice rather than amusing the rather boring, style obsessed, beer geek.

In my experience the Fuller's beer is always of good quality. I look forward to finding the Adnams in good form but in the meantime Bengal Lancer will be my first choice out of these two.

One nice observation of the English attitude to service was observed last night. An old man with a stick, settled in the corner with his dimpled glass almost empty of Doom Bar, stopped a passing barman, thrust a fiver at him and asked if he could get him another pint. "Sorry" replied the barman, "We don't do table service". Table service ? He wasn't asking for table service, he was asking for kindness. Another customer stood up and went to the bar for him. You could not make it up.

Portsmouth Pubs

I seem to be a bit off the pace at the moment having spent much of the last two weeks out-of-town and away from my desk.

Last week saw us spend a couple of days in Portsmouth where my favourite son is studying. Hit the tourist trails and experienced the usual ups and downs of the local pubs.

Gun Wharf Quays is the newest, most recently spruced up part of Portsmouth. It is a re-development of bars, restaurants, nightclub, outlet shopping and apartments. It is a happening place with some good vibes. It is common that the traditional pub in places like this is an All Bar One or a Yates. Here we find the Old Custom House a large Fuller's pub converted from old naval office building. Gales brewery was a backward company in many ways but this is an example of the vision and ambition that could have saved the company as an independent outfit. Fuller's have inherited a great pub here. It is large and multi-roomed but still bright and inviting. The staff give the impression that they are there to make sure your visit is as enjoyable as possible. We have enjoyed a meal here on a couple of visits. It is a pub where you get the impression that people are trying hard. The wide range of Fuller's beers is an add-on for me and the beer has been good on all three visits. I think the pub has had problems with consistency in the past and as such does not appear in the Good beer Guide.

The next pub, venturing towards Southsea, is The Hole in the Wall, Portsmouth CAMRA pub of the year, and the home of Oakleaf Hole Hearted beer. I enjoyed a pint of porter here and my wife and son had the Weston's perry - both good. I was concerned to see most people drinking pints of squash - lemon and orange. On further research, the orange proved to be Cheddar Valley cider, a brighter cider you will not see and the lemon was alcoholic ginger beer. Unfortunately I tried neither as we were hot footing it to the next place.

The Florence Arms, further into Southsea is a friendly pub that focuses on cider. A list of about forty bottled and cask ciders was offered. Whitehead perry was chosen by the lightweights, I had a lovely pint of an Oakleaf seasonal beer - a long name that I cannot remember (and does not appear on their website - was I dreaming ?).

Onwards and upwards to the Fifth Hants Volunteer Arms on the main Southsea drinking stretch, Albert Road, a cosmopolitan, vibrant if slightly scruffy street. I was expecting a Fuller's pub from the Good Beer Guide description. I was surprised as we approached because it must be one of the only Fuller's pubs that has not received the post Gales makeover. When we entered it was clear that this pub was in dire need of some tender loving care and attention. The furniture and carpets were filthy, the welcome non-existent and the beer, like the rest of the pub, tired. This small pub has probably suffered in this long, deep recession and really does need, what I think is now commonly called in the trade, "tenant support". I hope it gets a leg up soon because this is a small, traditional, street corner community pub that is fast becoming lost in this country. I know tenants have obligations under their leases but this sort of run-down ambiance does nothing good for a company as widely regarded as Fullers. A Good Beer Guide pub for many years on the evidence of many certificates on show but it must be in serious danger of being omitted in future unless it pulls its socks up.

The evening ended watching the football in the Leopold, a modern pub also on Albert Road. Excellent pints of Oakleaf Hole Hearted made the Thierry Henry handball even more funny.

So there you have it, a trot around the pubs of Pompey. Some highs and some lows. Mainly good beer, great choice of local beers and cider and reasonable prices.

Prize Old Ale

One of the highlights of the recent Willoughby Arms Halloween Beer Festival was a rare cask of Fullers, Gales Prize Old Ale.

The tasting notes in the festival program were written when Roger Protz was a boy, describing hand-corked bottles and wooden fermenters and really relate to a beer from a bygone age.

The story of the new version of Prize Old Ale is as follows :

Fullers acquired the beer when they took over Gales of Horndean in 2007. They also acquired a final batch of forty barrels of the beer that had been brewed by Gales and was being matured. Fullers took this beer back to Chiswick and launched it in bottle last year. The beer had a distinct, overpowering sourness reminiscent of the Belgian lambic style beers.

Fullers first effort at brewing the beer was last year. The 9.5% barley wine style beer was brewed in Chiswick in 2008 and blended with the very last drop - a small amount - of the old Horndean brewed beer thus retaining the provenance and continuity of the Gales beer, imparting some infected tartness but not allowing the lambic character to be overpowering. This beer was then matured in the brewery for a further year.

The beer was brewed again in 2009 and has just been blended 60:40 with the matured beer. This is the beer that has just been launched in bottle (and ten casks). The remainder of the new beer will now be blended with a small amount of the old beer and further matured until next year. A real labour of love for John Keeling, Fullers Brewing Director.

John provided me with some tasting notes for the new beer (via Twitter, hence the brevity) :

Prize Old Ale - aroma lots of fruit,sour cherries - flavour tart fruity sherbet edge balanced with malty sweetness

My own tasting notes at the Willoughby suggest a dark ruby colour, small tight head and a spicy hop aroma. Some alcohol evident on the nose. A full bodied beer, with a sweetness of fruitcake and wine gums with notes of raisins, leather and tobacco and a little sour tartness. A long spicy hop finish with a lingering alcoholic warmth.

The beer labelled the 2008 vintage will be available soon at the shop at the Fullers Brewery - which will also be getting an on-line presence in the very near future.

Fuller's Vintage Ale

The 2009 Vintage Ale from Fuller's is just about to be released to stores and I was lucky enough too receive an invitation to a recent vertical tasting of the beer at the brewery shop.

Fullers Vintage is brewed once each year using the finest quality ingredients available to the brewer, John Keeling. This year's beer was brewed four months ago and bottled in the last week or two. It is an 8.5% bottle conditioned, barley wine, has a fresh Goldings hop aroma and flavour, and the distinct traditional Fuller's character of orange marmalade which comes from the Fullers yeast in their stronger beers. I love this version of the beer - newly brewed, good balance of bitterness and sweetness, fresh and loads of hop character. However this beer does mature and develop over time and, to illustrate its potential for ageing, next up was the 1999 Vintage.

This beer has been in the bottle for over 10 years and the spicy hop notes are gone giving way to an aroma and flavour more reminiscent of a sherry or liqueur, the orange flavours remain though I think there is an alcoholic finish that I can't really appreciate. However I concede there are plenty who prefer this older, more mature version of the beer. It has developed into a complex and sophisticated drink and is to be appreciated in a small glass on a cold night.

To my taste the beers reach a peak at around five years and the third tasting was a 2005 Vintage, a smooth mellow beer, no harsh alcohols, still a noticeable spicy, citrus, Fuggles hop aroma and flavour. It remains balanced with both the sweetness and the bitterness providing a delicious taste of rich fruit cake followed by a long warming finish. Lovely !

The shop itself is going from strength to strength. The recent refurbishment and longer opening hours have been an improvement and now one can find the full portfolio of Fullers beers together with a much expanded range of clothing and collectibles and some special items exclusive to the shop.

Each of the previous Vintage Ales that remain available are also on sale at prices ranging from £4.85 to about £7 depending on the rarity value. The years 1997, 1998, 2001 and 2002 are no longer available - this is a great shame as they are the only ones missing from my own collection. The store will be going on-line in the coming months too for those fans who are not within reach of Chiswick (alas UK only to start with).

To receive future information about special events and tastings at the shop, register here or follow @fullerstony or @fullersjohn at Twitter.

Red Lion, Barnes

The nearest Fuller's pub to my home is The Red Lion in Barnes. I have written about it before.

I drop in from time to time for a pint on my way home, take my wife there for lunch occasionally and deliver copies of London Drinker magazine.

It is a good pub. Good beer, good food, comfortable and friendly.

But you no longer have to take my word for it. Recently, the managers, Angus and Claire, were crowned Fullers Master Cellarman of the Year. They were also the winners of this sought after award in 2007 but had to settle for second place in 2008.

The competition is judged each year by the Fuller’s Beer Quality Team. To achieve the accolade of Master Cellarman, licensees have to attain and then sustain a score of over 95% in four visits throughout the year.

Cellar hygiene and dispense equipment, including everything from barrel to glass, are thoroughly inspected and a sample of beer is taken away for analysis.

Eleven finalists received a 100% score in their inspections and were therefore put forward for the final.

The 10 other finalists were: The Railway Tavern, Carshalton; The Holly Bush, St Albans; Heroes, Waterlooville; The Harvest Home, Denmead; The Swan Hotel, Staines; The Harpenden Arms, Harpenden; The Spotted Cow, Cowplain; The Star Tavern, Belgravia; The Fine Line, Monument and The Partridge, Bromley.

Beer Blogger finds Mojo

Bit quiet here lately, I admit. GBBF always takes its toll. I haven't been used to proper working hours since I stepped off the City treadmill over six years ago. The 100 or so hours spent in the week at GBBF Press Office at least give a reminder of how tired and emotional one can get by working hard. At least GBBF is great fun.

Anyway, I think most visitors enjoyed the event. From a press and publicity angle, we managed to get coverage in most of the national newspapers together with plenty of regional and international press and a sprinkling of good TV. A lady from a Chinese TV news agency suggested that at least 100 million viewers might see her piece filmed from the Bombardier bus.

I am now back at the blog with plenty to share. Hopefully your visits here in the coming weeks and months will prove to be entertaining and informative.

A couple of final GBBF photos to sum up the event.

If anyone ever says that the press office at GBBF is a soft option, this is what they look like at the end of the week. From left to right, Arfur, Royce and Brian
re-hydrating at the staff party. Thanks for your company lads.



And to prove that I can get my hands dirty too, here is the new boy on the Fuller's bar covering for absence during the final session. I did my best but I managed to spill half a pint of Pride over a customer. I don't think I will be asked back.

Gizza Job, I can do that (2)

Continuing a theme, I came across this on my travels :

Fuller's Brewery - PR Executive

This is an exciting opportunity to join the press and public relations office, which handles both internal, and high profile external communications and events. Responsibilities include providing an information service to both the media and general public and producing the award-winning Griffin magazine.

Key responsibilities include: -

· Providing a professional information service to the media and general public
· Assist with creating and implementing media relations campaigns
· Maintaining customer facing output including award-winning Griffin magazine and corporate website
· Maximising opportunities to promote Brewery Tours
· Be responsible for high profile internal and external events

The ideal candidate will have: -

· Excellent communication skills at all levels
· Good understanding of media landscape
· Good levels of demonstrable numeric and literacy skills
· Strong initiative, creative approach and be a team player
· Previous PR or event organising experience
· Strong IT skills

For a full copy of the job outline please contact the Personnel Department. If you are interested in this position, please submit your CV and a covering letter explaining how you meet the requirements of the role, to Recruitment, Griffin Brewery, Chiswick Lane South, Chiswick, W4 2QB or Email to recruitment@fullers.co.uk. If you feel you would like to discuss any points prior to applying, please feel free to contact Tony Johnson, PR Manager via the Griffin Brewery switchboard

Andover Arms

Without wishing this week to become "Let's Bash Fuller's Week", I offer you this nugget from today's Daily Telegraph, Births and Deaths column :

DEATHS

ANDOVER - Arms (Andy) died after a brief but valiant struggle on Friday 19th June. Will be greatly missed by all loyal friends and family. Letters of condolence should be addressed to : Simon Emeny, Managing Director, Fuller's Inns, Chiswick Lane South, London, W4 2QB

I understand from my spies that the pub has been gastro-ed (is there such a word ?) in a modern, minimalist style. I had a great meal here at Christmas so can vouch for the food offering but I guess the original character of a friendly local beer drinkers pub will be gone. With changes in social living style, those boozers are becoming harder and harder to find but at least this fine pub is still open for business and not closed with future uncertain.

Further down the same page in today's paper is the text for the day :

Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

AGMs

I know that some readers here are also regulars at the Young's and Fuller's annual general meetings each year. I can confirm that the dates this year are 14th and 21st July respectively.

Fuller's Brewery Shop

The shop at the Fuller's Brewery in Chiswick had a refurbishment and re-opening recently.

Now they have improved the opening hours and are open from 10am to 8pm on weekdays and 10am to 6pm on Saturdays.

There is currently a 10% discount voucher available by email from brewery.shop@fullers.co.uk for all purchases made before the end of May.