Historic beer styles survive and revive.

Fuller’s Brewery in Chiswick, West London, has launched a new edition of a beer, Prize Old Ale (nine per cent), which has its roots in the late 18th century when strong ales were brewed for blending with weaker beers.

Prize Old Ale (POA for short) was first brewed in the 1920s by Gale’s, a brewery in Horndean, near Portsmouth.

As well as being bottled, POA was also used to blend with a weaker draught beer called 5X.

Following brewing, the beer was aged in wooden vessels for 12 months and during that time it was attacked by wild yeasts and other organisms trapped in the wood, which gave the beer a lactic character.

When the brewery closed in 2006 its beers were made by Fuller’s and it was feared that, as a result of its complex method of production, POA would disappear.

But Fuller’s head brewer, John Keeling, transferred 80 barrels of the last batch of the Gale’s beer to Chiswick, where it was stored in a tank.

It was topped up with fresh beer from time to time and new batches were occasionally released.

As a result of the ageing process, the original beer has taken on a fruity and acidic character. The marketing department at Fuller’s didn’t appreciate this 'sour beer' and production stopped.

It was revived by the Fuller’s subsidiary Dark Star Brewery in Sussex that was able to get some of the aged beer from Chiswick to blend with fresh beer.

So much interest was created when the Dark Star version was launched that Fuller’s revived its interest in the beer.

The Chiswick brewery is now owned by the Japanese brewer Asahi and when it closed Dark Star it was assumed POA wouldn’t be seen again.

But I am delighted to report that Fuller’s has remained true to the beer and is putting considerable support behind the new version.

While most of the stock is bottled, a draught version will be sold in selected Fuller’s pubs: sold in half pints as a result of its strength.

There will talks and tastings conducted by members of the brewing staff.

The beer is brewed with Maris Otter, England’s finest malting barley, with some black malt and brewing sugar. The hops are two traditional English varieties, Fuggles and Goldings.

Drunk young, the beer is fruity with a pronounced sultana and raisin character, blended by rich malt and peppery hops.

But this is a beer that will improve with age: a brewer at Gale’s one said POA is best drunk after 20 years when it takes on a Cognac note.

I must confess I have never waited that long to drink a bottle, much though I like Cognac!

POA is a style that is not dissimilar to beers brewed in the great brewing country of Belgium. There you will find such beers as Oud Bruin (Old Brown), Flanders Sour Red and the “wild fermentation” Lambic beers of the Brussels region.

Closer to home, Greene King in Bury St Edmunds has a Strong Suffolk Ale that is a blend of a 12 per cent ale aged in wood for a year and a weaker Best Pale Ale.

I hope the success of POA will encourage Greene King to promote Strong Suffolk, which is hard to find unless you are prepared to make the long drive to the brewery shop.

Let us salute Fuller’s and Asahi for supporting this country’s proud brewing heritage.

You can buy bottles of POA from www.darkstarbrewing.co.uk.