Fuller’s Bengal Lancer

London Beer Tastings 2011.
This beer was featured in a piece on bottle conditioned beers from London in BEER August 2011. Read more about London bottle conditioned beers.

ABV: 5.3%
Origin: Chiswick, London W5, England
Website: www.fullers.co.uk

Fuller's Bengal Lancer

Bengal Lancer was launched in 2009 as Fuller’s contribution to the growing range of India Pale Ales, as well as the swelling ranks of this legendary London brewery’s bottle conditioned beers. A cask version is also available on a seasonal basis. It’s constructed from a simple recipe of classic English ingredients: pale barley malt and Goldings hops.

A tasting sample supplied by the brewery poured orange-amber, with a bubbly off-white lightly orange tinged head. The aroma was quite restrained and slightly flinty, with a fresh yeasty character and obvious hop resins. A fully malty palate had the brewery’s typical suggestion of orange and a note of burnt rubber suggestive of crystal malt, with firm resins quickly emerging to turn bitterish and peppery. A thick and slightly sticky swallow yielded pepper and coconut notes, leading to a long developing and subtle finish that started nicely hoppy and gradually built to firmly rooty bitterness.

IPA as a style that aspires to the strength and hop character of its 18^th century origins has largely been appropriated by US craft brewers bearing fistfuls of Cascade and Chinook, and some recent British revivals have been rather timid. I like Lancer for being big and vivid enough to stand up to the Americans while remaining distinctively and unmistakably English with its classic earthy and rooty Goldings flavours. Arguably it could handle a few more notches of alcohol, but it certainly isn’t lacking impact.

Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/fullers-bengal-lancer/118513/