Heather Ales Alba

Brewed by Williams Brothers (Heather Ales)
Style: Traditional Ale
Alloa, Central, Scotland

33cl bottle, part of a gift set of 4 bottles of "Historic Ales", all by the Williams Bros. brewery. Pours a wee hazy deep amber, with a medium off-white head. Limited retention, decent lacing. Unusual aroma of sweet berries and citrusy resin, evidence of the pine and spruce fermented with the beer. Since I sell violins for a business, I know that smell. ;=) And, indeed, there’s a sea breeze there. Thick, rather creamy mouth feel in a medium-bodied "herbal ale" with very moderate carbonation. Very nice drinking. Resin is also very noticeable in the taste, but in a good way. Berry flavour and resin are evidently a good match, with sweet, bitter and citrusy notes equally vying for attention. Some honey in there, too. Finish is rather "neutral", with a wee resinous after taste that’s very pleasant. Well, they use wood for the fermentation of wine, so why not use it in beer, too? Unique, well-crafted, eminently quaffable specialty brew that comes in too-small bottles.

Bottle. Poured dark orange with medium white head. Aroma of pine, smelled like a blerrie Christmas tree. Sweet taste, pine, resin and sugar. Sweet finish. I will sip this, and limit myself to one. It’s good, but rather too sweet for many

Bottle. I really like the beers from the William Brothers. This one tastes and smells just like the name. But this is a good thing. This is a great winter time beer. Maybe even a holiday one. Brown colored ale with a light head. Great stuff. Should be experienced.

Bottle from Cracked Kettle. Dark amber body with oily head. Sweet, caramel nose. Warming up front. Taste of caramel. Then gets cloying, sugary. Nice barley in the finish. Enjoyable.

Interesting beer. Like an unusual tripel. Nose is pinapple and a curious character that must be the pine. Moutfeel is solid with hints of tropical fruit and sugars. A nice change.

Bottle from a mixer of scottish ales (or more specifically - Ales from Scotland). It was a gift. Pours a cloudy red-orange, very nice looking glass of ale. Aroma is very sweet smelling, not what I was expecting. Very pleasant feeling in the mouth, the flavor is very holiday-ish, though with a twinge of sadness. Reminds of sitting in front of a fireplace at a children’s hospital. Interesting. Tastes red and green.

Bottle. Pours a brownish-orange a little lighter than amber with a thin, off-white head. I can see pulp/sedinent floating in the beer. Aroma is quite malty, as are most scotch ales. Flavor is also quite malty with some bitter freshness mixed in, pine/spruce it would seem. Just enough bitterness to taste. Overall not bad.

A good strong dark malt smell with the scotch in behind it. Very dark and full of sediment. The malts come on strong and then mellow out as the scotch flavour comes in and lasts for much longer than most beer would. Creamy and smooth. Pretty good, but the scotch ale just isn’t my favourite combination.