Does anyone know why Fuller’s have apparently decided not to release London Porter in cask-conditioned form this year?
Their website boasts that it is “widely regarded as the World’s finest porter” and it’s certainly a personal favourite of ours. It’s also had rave reviews from other beer bloggers.
So, why drop this one but continue to push the mediocre Jack Frost?
21 replies on “Fullers: why no cask Porter?”
Oh dear, oh dear. The cask porter is most excellent and Jack Frost is awful.
Funny, I was wondering about this. Woolpack Dave alluded to a debate over whether keg or cask Porter is best, and I popped my head around the door of the Jugged Hare in Pimlico last week to see if they had any.
It’ll be a shame if they haven’t brewed it this year, specially since all of the Sheps pubs in Victoria don’t have their own Porter, which has been excellent the past couple of years. I wonder if they’ve declined to brew a dark seasonal, as well..?
I thought they had some at the brewery when I was there. Might be mistaken though. Several beers have passed my lips since and so a few brain cells might have been sacrificed along the way.
Fullers have seen the light and are moving towards proper real keg format.
“Keeling had a word of advice: London Porter is delivered to the pubs that order it. If you want it on cask, pester your pub about it!”
Taken from here: http://knutalbert.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/what-happened-in-the-hock-cellar/
Where did you guys hear they weren’t doing it this year? I must admit I haven’t seen it anywhere except festivals since Cask Ale Week back in the Spring. I’m a massive fan of cask London Porter and have been looking forward to it coming around again. I got the impression it was a “seasonal” for Winter, rather than one of their monthly guests like Jack Frost. Having said that, it was available from November last year.
For me, it’s one of Fuller’s last remaining endearing features gone if the plug has been pulled. Terrible decision.
I had a pint in Liverpool last month. Have you checked The Barrowboy & Banker in Southwark? I’m told it’s generally on there.
John Keeling (Fuller’s brewing director) twitters as FullersJohn, why don’t you tweet him?
Beertruck has already quoted me, and I can confirm this: It is available on cask to the pubs that ask for it.
But it’s never been widely available, has it?
Hm. Our local (Pack Horse, Wendover, Bucks) ×always× has cask porter at this time of year, and it always sells well. They’ve still got Jack bloody Frost on, though. Will have to ask and see what they’ve been told.
I, too, drank cask Porter at the Fullers brewery two weeks ago. And John Keeling definitely said that pubs had to ask for it.
In answer to a question above, Shepherd Neame are not releasing Original Porter this year. They’ve got a new seasonal, I think.
Cask London Porter appears to be far superior to the keg version they’ve been selling in some of their tied houses lately, but I suspect the massive gap in quality may be because pubs aren’t dealing with the keg version properly. It’s often poured almost completely flat. I don’t know the details of the dispense system – combination of gas they’re using and how the staff are told to pour it – but it’s all wrong.
PS. A pub that’s still selling a previous seasonal in place of one you’re expecting to do obviously just over ordered the first one and need to work through that before putting on a new beer.
As you two probably know, I’ve already moaned about the distinct lack of cask LP this year. Last year it seemed to be out and about (albeit in its usual, mind-splittingly short window), quickly replaced by the – sorry, John, if you get to reading this – BLOODY AWFUL Jack Frost. This year it has been notable by its absence.
If pubs have to ask for it, are they not doing so? Did they ask more last year? Seemed to sell very well where I saw it.
As one of the finest cask beers in the country it’s a mighty shame they haven’t got out and sold it. It’s a perfect winter warmer and is ‘on trend’, as it were, with the porter/stout revival (cf. Humpty Dumpty’s excellent Porter, Ascot’s bitter Anastasia Exile Stout, etc.)
Ooh, Fuller’s lorry was making a delivery as I left home this morning. Fingers crossed!
PS – Jack Frost is mediocre at best, but I must say I really enjoyed Gales Winter Brew the other week.
I must say I enjoy the keg version more, don’t know why, maybe I had a tied cask version — what about the Doric Arch, don’t they have it (on keg though)?
Blimey. We touched a nerve. Hello everyone.
We should probably drop John Keeling a line and ask him directly. We’ve been blogging for several years now and never emailed or met him, unlike everyone else, it seems!
Our local Fuller’s pub (the Plough in Walthamstow, for which I have a soft spot, but can’t wholeheartedly recommend) had LP well into January last year which, as per Jeff’s point, suggests no bugger was buying it, so they probably haven’t bothered ordering any this year. I would guess a few others have got the keg and don’t see the point of having the cask as well.
So, no one likes Jack Frost then?
If I wanted a bitter and black I’d ask for one!
Bailey says:
December 15, 2009 at 8:00 pm
So, no one likes Jack Frost then?
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Nope. And the keg porter is waaay too cold!
‘So, no one likes Jack Frost then?’
No – and I do genuinely rate it as Fuller’s worst beer, worse even than Honeydew – but I do feel sorry for it.
After all, whenever you see it you think ‘but it should be London Porter.’
Could any beer bear the comparison?