Is this the beginning of the end of Fuller's ESB in the US?

There is one place in Houston near me that still has Fuller's ESB on tap. The Red Lion, which is that pseudo English type pub everyone has around. I like the place fine, its been on all the Food Network shows (with a big photo of Guy Fieri from when he visited, to one side to boot, ugh). Its a perfectly fine place, and I definitely go there to get my ESB and Fish & Chip fix on occasion. The kegs seem at least relatively fresh, most likely cause thats what they push, but its hard to say for sure of coarse.

The local bottle shop I usually go to down the road from me has small cooler space. It is one of the last remaining actual growler shops around, but does all singles in the coolers, and does a pretty good job of variety for the space they have. They got some London Pride (edit: bottles) in a while ago, it was already a year past its best by date. This was so called brand new stock that the owner got from the distributor, then the owner sent it back. Not looking good for Pride either IMO.

 

I haven't seen ESB in Atlanta for years now, although we still have London Pride. To add insult to injury, the Red Lion was out of ESB when I was in Houston last year.

 

Can confirm, Fuller's ESB has been basically impossible to acquire in SoCal as a retail buyer.

It's been that way for quite some time actually. Feels like almost a year but probably only 6 - 8 months. I have a regular customer that used to buy it and asked for it a lot when I couldn't get it. He hasn't asked me in quite a long time now, I think he's admitted defeat and just buys more of the Pale than he used to.

 

There is some concern in the UK that Asahi might close down Fuller’s altogether. The land the brewery is on is close to central London and worth a fortune.

 

Who cares!!! There are so many great breweries putting hundreds of amazing NEIPAs on the shelves right now! Surrender and submit! Bask in the murky, milky, hazy glory! What a time to be alive!!!

 

Yes, but when classics go, they deserve to have an RIP-thread like this.

Fight on!

 

Yes, things are indeed looking ‘murky’ these days.

Maybe Fullers needs to get some of that murk? Maybe rebrand as Fullers EMB?

Cheers!

 

Great. You broke my sarcasm meter. This is the fifth one broken this month!

 

It's a shame that Asahi doesn't move the Fuller beers to Molson Coors' US import division. They do "OK" * with Pilsner Urquell and Peroni, two other Asahi-owned imported brands, MC continued to own the importation rights to those two former SABMiller brands, a by-product of the DoJ agreement which allowed ABInBev to buy SABMIller, allowing Molson Coors to buy the rest of MillerCoors they didn't already own.

* Yeah, just "OK" - cause my last retailer who carried the Pilsner Urquell cans dropped them (and, when fresh, I'd buy it by the case).

Supposedly Molson Coors is doin' great with Peroni these days, even tho' that heavily-advertised, uh, "crooked carrot" disease has an unfortunately close name. (But, hey, that didn't hurt Corona Beer too much, but it might also be why it's called Covid these days. Payoff?)

Wasn't the deal that sold off the brewery originally that Asahi would continue to supply the Fuller pubs (which the Fullers company kept) with beer? Seems they'd have to buy/build a brewery to continue that or, I suppose, yet another UK heritage brand would wind being brewed under license by Marstons or Greene King.

 

That was the fate of Young's Ram brewery.

 

In Indiana, we have seen Fuller's disappear completely from store supply chains, while only the London Pride is available and only on draft.

 

Can't remember the last time I saw ANY Fuller's products in my area. I was a regular purchaser of ESB and Pride, but I guess I must have been one of the few.

Sad to see so many great products disappearing and replaced by 100's different IPA's, Seltzers, and Flavored Malt Beverages.

 

Yes, but Asahi has another brewery in London, Meantime.

I don’t think the terms of the deal could force Asahi to keep the Chiswick site open forever.

 

I think a band once sang "one man gathers what another man spills", maybe this means an opportunity for someone in the States to step up and brew an "American Special Bitter"!?! Any takers???

 

Only London Pride in Ireland, too, at the moment - we used to get London Porter + ESB in the supermarkets regularly.

 

Don't forget beer smoothies!

 

Well, if the 'transition' of brewing Bass Ale in the US (Anheuser- Busch) is a proper model here the answer is likely: fat chance?

Cheers!

 

I love Fuller's, but I don't think I've seen anything fresh in my area in the last 5 years. I guess the Vintage would be an option, but I don't really care where age takes that one, either. Sadly, that's kinda my experience with low to medium strength imports in general. I'd buy 'em if they were fresh...but why are they going to put effort into selling fresh stock when nobody is buying the brand. Unfortunately, finding a local packaged equivalent is all but impossible, too.

 

Malternatives for the Juice Box generation.

(Insert old man shouts at cloud image, here.)

 

Brewery I'm at having lunch has a special bitter that is almost always on. It's quite good too. I've never had fullers esb so I can't compare

 

I've seen London Pride, but haven't seen ESB or London Porter in quite some time.

 

Here’s the band and the song!

 

Was sublime on cask in the Mother Country

 

I don’t come into this forum much anymore but this is the best post I’ve seen in this short year so far.

 

This is a crying shame.
E. S. B. Is such a fantastic style with so little representation, and Fullers was the poster child for it.
Back in the '90's, everyone had an ESB in their variety packs.
Nowadays, good luck even finding one in any given beer store, around these parts anyhoo.
I really miss the Young's products too, along with Whitbread.
Nowadays,if you want a great beer, you've got to brew it yourself I guess?
Unless it's an IPA.

 

Yeah, that Cincinnati Whitbread actually insulted me. And that's hard to do!

 

Since you know the answer:



I am in the process of writing an article with the working title: The Benefits of Homebrewing over Buying Beer.

Cheers to homebrewing!

 

If a revered brand like Young's can disappear (except Chocolate Stout) the true English ales might just disappear within the haze. It is a shame. Young's Oatmeal Stout is very likely the best beer in all of my memory. As a young fellow in London (19 years old) I remember drinking more than several Ramrod Ales, realizing rich malt and Kentish hops immediately as way better than my American usuals. It was a Summer of palate and pleasure discoveries that prefaced a career.

 

The Beer Garden in Raleigh had Fuller’s ESB on tap when I was up there 3 weeks ago.

 

“Is this the beginning of the end of Fuller's ESB in the US?”

I will consult the magic 8-ball, maybe there is an answer there?



Hmm, there is that word again: “hazy”.

Cheers!

 

There are a few others that can be found in the Young's pubs in London, but nothing like the range of beers before Young's was sold.

https://www.youngsbeers.co.uk/beers/london-special/

 

I remember London Special Ale as a rich biting hop-infused ale that made a statement about hops long ago and presaging the current-or just past West Coast style- and it really was tastier at about 55 degrees.

 

Sounds interesting, post it when you're done. I love to resurrect beers no longer available to me that I once loved. Heck, even brewing clones of existing beers is way more cost efficient, at least that's what I tell the wife.

 

If the beers you are "cloning" are pricey that is indeed the case (presuming you do not cost your labor).

Cheers!

 

Not in a beer store, but if you get out here to the Philly suburbs - two local breweries, Troubles End and Forest & Main both brew a lot of English style beers including Bitters and also serve them via beer engines.

 

And a little further away from Philly, Bonn Place in Bethlehem makes English style beers they serve via cask. I am a big fan of their Bitter Ale (Mooey) and English Dark Mild Ale (Nemo).

Cheers!