Heather Ales Alba

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

Serve in Dimpled mug, English pint, Stein, Yard

Anyone expecting the clean piney flavours of some modern APAs can think again. This traditional ale brewed with Scots pine and spruce sprigs is a sweet, herbal concoction. It’s not entirely convincing to this palate but the brewer should be commended for resurrecting the style. Alba is a hazy caramel-brown with a thin film of suds. Sweet, sticky aroma with ginger notes, a medicinal tint and boiled lollies. No obvious pine or herbal notes - smelled more like Irn Bru than a pine forest. Syrupy mouthfeel with minimal carbonation. Medicinal flavours - cough lollies, clove, paint, raisins, honey, with a late draft of pine in the swallow. Geez, I though Captain Cook’s crew had it tough enough but two years of this would drive me close to mutiny. A little goes a long way. I much prefer the gooseberry and heather ales. Ultimately, this was pretty hard to drink. I like the concept a lot more than the reality. (330ml bottle from Platinum Liquor. BB June 2009)

Enjoyed from an 11.2oz bottle in a pub glass. The beer pours a nice medium amber color with a small white head. Aromas of malt and some citrus come through in the nose. Perhaps a touch of pine, but it might be more my mind searching for it than actual perception. The palate is malty and full across the palate, almost resembling a slightly lighter-bodied Scotch ale. Again, a bit of citus comes through, although it is nicely refined. The finish is slightly sweet, but on par with the rest of the beer. Overall, a nice change of pace from modern beer styles and interpretations thereof.

Smells of raisins, maraschino cherries, and grass. Opaque ochre. thin tan head. Maraschino cherries and only the lightest malt flavor. Creamy mouthfeel, but alcohol content seems magnified. Unique, but only tates ok.

11.2oz bottle from a Heather Ale mix sampler box. Not so sure about this one. Very different. I either like it or I don’t yet I’m not sure which. Hmm. I am perplexed.

Pours a clear orange color with a very small head. Aroma is like pine sap and some sweet malt, plenty of floral characteristics, and some alcohol. The flavor is nicely fruity with a distinct honey flavor, a little too sweet to the point of cloying. That pine flavor is certainly there as well. I didn’t mind it, but it’s not something I would seek out.

Aleish with some astringency in the taste. Murky. Does have a piney taste.

I like this Alba Scots Pine Ale but if it’s all the same, I’d really rather have a Jessica Alba. That being said, the price was somewhat dear but again, this is not a beer you come across every day. Colour was a murky dark tawny, to use the brewer’s word, and the head was a wee bit small and off-white. Aroma was certainly that of a Scotch Ale, with some obvious malting. Taste-wise, well, there sure is some malt but more is going on as well. Some indecipherable spices (at least by me), and in the background there is a tart snap to the taste, as if one had bitten into a pine needle. Mouthfeel is smooth, but the aftertaste is too sweet for my liking.

Pours hazy amber color with thin off white head. Aroma of berries with some alcohol. Berry and spruce flavors. Slightly sweet and alcoholic. Medium body with prickly carbonation.