Heather Ales Alba

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

Bottled. Interesting. MIld on the hops and malts, but a clearly noticable nose of pine. Not so much pine on the finish, though, but the hops come through. Pale-aley style flavor. Crisp flavor, not very strong.

Bottled (BB 10/2007). Copper brown color, creamy tan head. Toffeish, slightly alcoholic, toasted brown sugar in the aroma. Toffeish, slightly alcoholic - very Scotch Ale -like. Some herbal-hoppy notes. Not pine found here, but quite nice ale to sip.

Cool stuff! Nice pour with some head. Aroma had a bit of a pine scent to it and the pine aftertaste was a nice subtle undertone. Not much of a kick dispite the higher alcohol content. I liked it and would buy it again when I see it.

I can smell the pine aspect of this beer. Also has a fruity apple and ginger scent. Cloudy and copper in color. Sweet in flavor, and this would fit the cloying description. Yep...I will go ahead and say it, "I didn’t care for this beer"...there. Slightly improved as it warmed. But I won’t be purchasing this again anytime soon.

It’s not a bad beer, but the pine addition doesn’t do much for me. If you are really desperate for something new, then give this one a whirl, otherwise, look elsewhere.

Bottle from Super Saver. Deep coppery ruby pour with 1-finger off-white head. Nice appearance for this one. Smells caramel malty, piney and hoppy, with some fruit and brown sugar hints. Tastes caramel malty at first, then becomes more heavy in the piney, sprucey hop arena as it warms, with even a nut browny almond and brown sugar flavor. Nicely balanced, unique, and complex.

I’m a gluten for punishment when it comes to trying flavored or enhanced beers as I’m usually disappointed. This one certainly won’t find home in my cellar any time soon but I must say I’m glad I tried it. Deep orange/red, slight cloud, med head. Head and lace quickly disappeared. I poured this one cold, brewer says room temp, so I sampled a few cold sips and then let it rest a while. A lot more interesting once warmed up, notes of coffee, bourbon, toffee, bitter candy, herbal, cloves, malty. Whiffs of bourbon and alcohol though only 7.5%. Now on to the pine/spruce: It’s there, regardless of what some of my predecessors here have said, just not overwhelming....not so subtle either. Way back when we used to camp up in the North Woods and Canada and we’d brew this concoction of pine, spruce, honey, ’herbs’, etc. The pine always overwhelmed the other flavors. But with this beer they managed to keep those strong pine tones under control. My bottle says the pine and spruce were collected in May of 1998. If your expecting Pine-Sol® you better leave the mop because this is a well crafted beer regardless of my score. Had this one with skirt steak, peppers & onions which was not a great match but then again, what would be a good pairing with this type of brew? $2.50/bottle @ Case&Keg, Boca Raton

Bottle. Copper beer with an off-white head. Toffee and swet malt aroma. Sweet malt, caramel, and light pine flavor. Lighter body than expected. Lingering caramel/toffee. Easy to drink. Much better than expected and not nearly the pine influence I would have thought.