Heather Ales Alba

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

12 oz bottle, D’s 6-pack Pittsburgh. Pours a clear copper body under a foamy and fizzy one finger off-white head that faded quickly. Aroma is quite sweet and spicy. Reminds me alot of cotton candy really. There is a noticable herbal note that must be spruce, but I’m not certain I would have guessed that. Lots of toffee also. Flavor is quite interesting. Quite sweet up front with a medicinal herbal finish. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, fairly thick in texture, with low soft carbonation. A little cloying on the finish, but still quite drinkable. An interesting beer for sure. Worth trying if only for the experience of tasting a spruce beer.

A slightly hazed amber/orangish pour. An aroma of malt, alcohol and very llittle hops. A flavor that is sweet and a fruitiness that I can’t put my finger on. Roll this around in your mouth and finally the 7.5 will come to the front. A pleasant bitter is there for you after the warmth disapates. A palate that is almost sllick but not. Carbonation is good with a bit of fizz at the end.

bottle. pours w/almost no evidence of a head. the color is true to description; tawny brown, a.k.a. thick, well, ya - tawny brown. aromas are fresh with juicy, heavy fruit, specifically pomengranite, tart caramel apples, and yes, a bit of pine. it smells like an appetizing autumn fair. too bad incense isn’t made to fit this scent...tastes flat, but still characteristic of the description. woodsy, specifically piney and a touch of spruce. also a golden apple taste that is slightly mirrored from the aroma, as well as an odd honey mustard. but still, perhaps i received a bad bottle, as the carbonation here is similar to the amount found in quelque chose, by unibroue. ’tis a shame, as i was looking forward to this one, if only ever so slightly. the odd thing is...there’s still flavor, and a somewhat substantial mouthfeel, just no carbonation. the finish is not quite as lingering as i had hoped. it falls off fairly quickly. a touch of oakiness remains, but that’s about it.

Bottle. Sweet caramel malt and pine, some hops. Nice clear red to amber, no head, thin white ring. Flavor is sweet, starts out bland and floats into heavy pine, which is surprisingly delicious. Lots of fruit, especially cherries, some mustard? Thin palate, kind of disappointing.

Bottle (from BItter Virtue, BB Feb 08). Malty caramel and blackcurrant prominent on the nose with undertone of herbal spicy aromas. Almost medicinal herbal flavour becomes more pronounced in the mouth with a moderate bittereness helping to balance the sweet mouthfilling malts. Full and sweet whilst remaining drinkable. Unusual and pretty good.

Bottle. Pours a hazy red with no head. Aroma is mild with strong notes of fruit and some caramel. Flavour is sweet with some berries (raspberries?) and a pine like feel - perhaps juniper berries.

Bottle. Pours a cloudy red/brown colour with a faor beige head. The aroma is sweet, malty and yeasty, fruity. Flavour is a bit sweet, nice maltiness, hoppy, some spices, fruity with some pine. An interesting tasty strong ale. "Alba" is Gaelic for "Scotland".

[Tasted with Svogergylp at Røsnæs.] "Strange" beer in the way that it’s with pine, but in this way I find it unbalanced, because the pines are overall in the beer.