Fuller's looks to Past Masters

Fuller's is launching a new collection of beers, all made from recipes found in the brewery's recipe archive, which dates back to 1845.

The brand, to be called Past Masters, will consist of a series of limited edition beers launched roughly once every six months and intended for collecting and ageing as well as drinking.

The first beer to be released is Past Masters XX Strong Ale, a 7.5% ABV pale mild made with fuggles and golding hops and matured for three months and then bottled conditioned.

The recipe dates from 1891.

"This was a style of beer that used to be sold in every pub in London," said Fuller's Beer Company MD John Roberts. "This is about bringing back long lost beers for today's connoisseurs.

"We have a long and illustrious history which separates us from many other brewers today and we intend to do more in the future to exploit that and the idea of 'time' both with aged beers and with concepts such as this brand," he said.

Only 150 barrels of the beer have been made, which is now available to Fuller's pubs and from the brewery's online store and shop in Chiswick.

"We will not release it to the general trade until the new year and then only in selected outlets," said Roberts.