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Heather Ales Alba

Heather Ales Alba  - Traditional Ale

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 Percentile 
81
overall
Brewed by Williams Brothers (Heather Ales)
Style: Traditional Ale

Alloa, Central, Scotland

bottled
common

on tap
unknown

Broad Distribution
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 Ratings  Average  Score  ABV  Style Pctl  Serve in 
6183.38/5.03.38/5.07.5%75.4Dimpled mug, English pint, Stein, Yard
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Commercial Description:
Bottled. A cask version at 6% is produced in March and April.
"Scots Pine Ale"
Introduced by the Vikings, spruce and pine ales were very popular in the Scottish Highlands until the end of the 19th century. Many early explorers, including Captain Cook, used spruce ale during long sea voyages since it prevented scurvy and ill health. Shetland spruce ale was said to "stimulate animal instincts" and give you twins. Alba is a triple style ale brewed to a traditional Highland recipe from Scots pine and spruce shoots pickled during early spring.Pure malted barley, is boiled with the young sprigs of pine for several hours then the fresh shoots of the spruce are added for a short infusion before fermentation.
A tawny brown strong ale with spruce aroma, rich malt texture, complex wood flavour and lingering finish.
Best drunk at room temperature from a wine goblet as an after dinner digestive.
 Most Recent Top Raters Highest Ratings Who's Rated This?  
 mj (4975), Colorado, USA
3.1 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/103/56/103/513/20
Jan 12, 2008  
Cask at Bierra Paradiso. Clear dark rusty orange color. Moderately heavy honey and mapel malt nose, with just a faint bit of grassy, spicy, oily hops. Wet, low carbonation as expected, but a bit too oily and slick for my liking... makes me think of kelp with the slimy texture and slightly vegetal, twangy flavor. Earthy, peaty, spruce and pine spices along with some dull orange-flavored hops in the finish. Weird beer.


 zebracakes (1214), Washington DC, USA
1.5 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
4/103/53/101/54/20
Jan 11, 2008  
Bottle. Pours hazy orange salmon, thin white head that disappears. Aroma is pine, oak, acetone, malt, anise, molasses, alcohol. Flavor is acetone, dried fruit, cotton candy, alcohol. The nail polish (acetone) aroma and flavor really kill it for me.


 matt7215 (943), Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
3.3 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/103/57/103/513/20
Jan 9, 2008  
330 ml bottle from a historic ales of scotland giftpack. poured brown with almost no head and average carbonation. sweet pine and berry aromas with some maltiness. flavours are quite nice. interesting and complex although a bit to thin. enjoyable and something id have again.


LordCrabapple (83), Merseyside, England
4.5 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/105/59/104/518/20
Jan 6, 2008  
What a wonderful beer. A ’sipper’ (as the Americans say. What a terrible word!); very strong, a delight to taste, but hard to find in England without the American gift pack. I would certainly recommend this to all good fellows.


 dnas2 (627), Yelverton, Devon., Devon, England
3.7 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/102/515/20
Jan 4, 2008  
Bottled. Cloudy ruby-copper in appearance, with no head but a lot of bubbles. Scent is quite malty with lots of berry fruit, particularly raspberry and strawberry. Very carbonated but with a smooth, syrupy mouthfeel. Quite bitter, some sweetness and a dry end. At the front, I was mainly getting strawberry jam, and some grapes, almost wine-like, at the back. There was some pine present, but I really wouldn’t have noticed it if it wasn’t on the label. Nevertheless, very unusual, and nice.


 JohnBarleycorn (390), Toronto, Ontario, Canada
3.1 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/105/54/102/513/20
Jan 1, 2008  
Bottle. Glowing orange/red appearance a definite highlight. Aroma is decidedly sweet, with layers of honey, cherry, taffy and berry-fruit-scented candle. Sharp and strongly bitter alcohol body stings like a right-uppercut, with minor malt creaminess doing little to soften the blow. Bitter-focussed flavour is difficult to describe as the bittering agent is so unusual but this brew seems to have a sharper, more obnoxious bitterness than the traditional hops profile. Needless to say, it’s quite apparent why hops is King. Heavy alcohol effect also offers an OE-like malt liquor experience. Worth trying…once.


 Heathen (723), Riverside, New Jersey, USA
3.9 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/103/58/103/516/20
Dec 28, 2007  
THOUGHTS: Had a skunked bottle of this about a year ago so I never rated it. But this one was fresh and was an incredible beer. Almost like a liquor. Slightly warming too. Would definitely have this one again. Not as piney as I would have thought. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a clear, medium to dark amber with a small, slightly off-white head that mostly diminished and left fair lacing. The aroma was heavy caramel malt, toffee, honey brown sugar, maple syrup, raisin, apple, wine and maybe some spruce. The initial flavor was moderately sweet and lightly bitter, while the finish was heavily sweet and lightly bitter with an average duration. The flavor was mostly the same as the aroma. It was a little like a thiner Samichlaus. The medium body was syrupy but slightly watery with fizzy carbonation and a lightly astringent finish.


 DruncanVeasey (2695), The Penguin’s Arms, Europe, Warwickshire, England
3.5 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/104/57/103/514/20
Dec 22, 2007  
Beautiful headless red amber pour. Aroma sweet, malty, slightly sick-tinged. Fudgy caramel with peardrop. Not a needle of spruce. Clean, sweet and caramelised. Lovely-tasting Belgian-like barley wine with a caramel apple/peardrop fruitiness and a lick of varnish. Disappointingly pleasant. What happened to the pine??



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