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Score
8784
OVERALLStyle
Brewed by Williams Brothers (Heather Ales)
Style: Traditional Ale
Alloa, Scotland

bottled
common

on tap
available

Broad Distribution

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RATINGS: 760   WEIGHTED AVG: 3.37   EST. CALORIES: 225   ABV: 7.5%
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.

3.7
   AROMA 6/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 7/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 16/20
redlight (2209) - Winter Park, Florida, USA - JUN 19, 2007
Scotch aromas, alcohol, pine resin aroma. Pours a dark amber. Good session beer, smooth maltiness, caramelly, with a pine flavor. Very drinkable. a good session beer.

3.1
   AROMA 6/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 6/10   PALATE 3/5   OVERALL 12/20
krysztofar (344) - belleville, Illinois, USA - JUN 17, 2007
bottle. drank this one warm as directed by the back label. color is amber with a smallish off white head. appears to be heavily carbonated. aroma is sweet with some licorice notes. relatively smooth with flavors of chocolate, clove orange rind, with a touch of caramel sweetness and licorice on the finish

3
   AROMA 4/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 6/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 12/20
bhensonb (7145) - Woodland, California, USA - JUN 7, 2007
Seems to be a heavy caramel aroma. Coppery color with a light-beige head that finely froths and leaves significant lacing. Medium bodied, mild carbonation. Starts lightly toffeeish, then develops a more sweet caramel aspect. There is a certain unsweet note at first sip, but it is quickly overwhelmed with malt, and it does not seem to reappear. All the time there is a twiggy, woody presence. Finishes far less than dry, and I don’t think there is a hint of bitter. After a relatively long time the mouth "dries out", but I don’t think that should count as a dry finish. Tell me if I’m wrong.

3.6
   AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 3/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 3/5   OVERALL 14/20
lordeche (467) - Quincy, Massachusetts, USA - JUN 4, 2007
Immediately upon opening this beer it exploded. Luckily, I got the rest in a bottle, but there was no carbonation in it. Aroma of sweet fruit and brown sugar. Flavor is quite similar, with an extremely unique fruitiness. NOtes of strawberry are pronounced. This tastes nothing like any beer I’ve ever tased. I’m not sure if I taste any pine in this, but it’s definitely worth a try, if only for its uniqueness.

3.3
   AROMA 7/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 10/20
GandGKevin (508) - Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA - JUN 1, 2007
Nice little dessert or appetizer type beer. Very distinctive sweet piney flavor. Very interseting and worth giving it a try if for nothing else than the historic value.

4.1
   AROMA 9/10   APPEARANCE 3/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 17/20
chimpscampee (566) - Madison, Wisconsin, USA - MAY 31, 2007
Earthy pine, spuce, oak sawdust countered by cherry lemon blackberry peach tart sourness. Maybe the longest aftertaste i’ve ever experienced. Lots of barley. Not too sweet or dry or fruity... it is just right, thank you may I have another?

3.4
   AROMA 7/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 7/10   PALATE 3/5   OVERALL 13/20
BigBeer45 (934) - Michigan, USA - MAY 31, 2007
Pours amber brown, faint brown sugar and some brown ale scents, sweet fruit, dark bread and caramel aromas, faint floral scent, some licorice in the background, flavor of caramel mixed with sweet, faint taste of alcohol, malt flavor reminds me of a faint brown ale - faint chocolate and toast, medium mouth feel, mostly dry with a very small bite in the finish.

3.8
   AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 3/5   OVERALL 15/20
BDR (2535) - Roseville, Minnesota, USA - MAY 29, 2007
UPDATED: SEP 4, 2007 Thanks to JK for sharing this dark amber pour. Definitly a scotch ale nose with lots of caramel and cherry in the body. Unfortunately, I didn’t detect any pine in an otherwise excellent beer.

Another bottle courtesy of JK. Similar to last time, but this 24 month old bottle has much more pine in both the aroma and the flavor.


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Rating Notecard:
Beer: Heather Ales Alba Rating Avg: 3.37 No. of Ratings: 760
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