Heather Ales Alba

	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
622	3.39/5.0	3.38/5.0	7.5%	75.1	Dimpled mug, English pint, Stein, Yard

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.

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Who's Rated This?

MarkoR (224), Toronto, Ontario, Canada

3.2	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
3.2	7/10	3/5	7/10	3/5	12/20

Sep 12, 2007

Very interesting beer. Smell of caramel. Pours a copper colour with a small head. Very nice flavor.

Guerde (699), Welcome, Minnesota, USA

3.3	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
3.3	7/10	3/5	7/10	3/5	13/20

Sep 4, 2007

(bottle, thanks JK) Pours amber with a white head. Aroma is piney with a malty sweetness too. Flavor is initially caramel malt, but then rounds out to a pretty nice piney finish.

OSLO (826), Perth, Australia

2.4	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
2.4	7/10	4/5	4/10	2/5	7/20

Sep 3, 2007

[Bottle, thanks JK] Pours amber with a light tan head. Aroma was rubbing alcohol at first, but this diminished and then disappeared completely, giving way to a sweet smell of caramel and honey. Taste was not good--a weak malty taste that did nothing for me. Short finish. Thin mouthfeel.

Kirill (264), Durham, North Carolina, USA

4	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
4	7/10	4/5	8/10	5/5	16/20

Sep 1, 2007

sweet caramel woody aroma... cloudy brown with quickly dissipating head... the woodyness really comes through in a REALLY good flavor and especially in the long finish... this was a great positive surprise

M0RHI (1067), Luxembourg, Luxembourg

2.8	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
2.8	6/10	3/5	7/10	3/5	9/20

Aug 30, 2007

Bottle, RBESG Grand Tasting 07. Clear copper, thin white head. Nose is malty sweet. Mouth is malty alcoholic, some hop balance. Some pine aroma, but not sure if it’s the fake type, like the toilet duck variety Rubbery resin juice. Works ok, but wouldn’t go out of my way to get this.

Fin (3403), Merton, Oxfordshire, England

3.2	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
3.2	6/10	3/5	7/10	3/5	13/20

Aug 30, 2007

Bottle, my recent dip into a few Scottish beers courtesy of cgarvieuk aka Craig has made me seek a few more of them in particular this one that I’d had before but hadn’t ever rated. Poured copper in colour with small head. Aroma bit fruity some alcohol was there resin notes there? I’m not sure wonder if I’m just thinking that there should be, quite strong tasting bit malty, fruity and bitter. A good and rather interesting beer that I’m glad I’ve revisted but wouldn’t necessarily rush back to again in a hurry.

KnutAlbert (3115), Oslo, Norway

3	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
3	7/10	3/5	6/10	3/5	11/20

Aug 29, 2007

Bottled. You can feel some resin in this rather sweet ale, but, frankly, this would have been more piney with the right use of hops. Interesting as an experiment.

mouse725 (74), Albany, New York, USA

4.2	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
4.2	9/10	5/5	8/10	4/5	16/20

Aug 26, 2007

Going into this beer, I anticipated a brew much like the sap of a Christmas tree...how pleasantly surprised I was! This beer poured a hair darker that amber, swelled sweet-ish, and had a BIG flavour that hit every tastebud on the tongue. Definitely would drink it again.

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