Heather Ales Alba

Many a time myself and many others have used the term pine or piney to describe the taste of a certain beer. Well if this is what pine tastes like in beer then I have sadly been doing many a great IPA a disservice. Don’t get me wrong I did enjoy this beer, but in no way did it have the flavor profile I was expecting. Huge malt base to combat the taste that I can only compare to pine scented dishwashing detergent, complete with soapy aftertaste. But yet it was oddly satisfying in an odd world, dreary dark bog sort of way.

2004 bottle. Wonderful violet, maroon, burgundy color with a small cream-colored head. Aroma is strong of deeply fragrant vinous notes, blackberries, and sweet honey and maple. Flavor is somewhat dry from the spruce, but there is a good, wine-like quality. Plenty of berries, yet dry and even lightly astringent. Light carbonation, and only a medium to medium-full body. I was expecting a little more stickiness and chewiness, but the beer seems quite heavily filtered (as all of HAL’s beers are). Finishes with a hint of caramel, raisins and a bit of earthy wood and alcohol. I enjoyed the fuller flavor of the seaweed ale more, but this one may be a bit more sublime and complex.

Pours brown with an orange hue. It has a white head that leaves decent lacing. Smell is sweet, tree or flowers, and clean. The flavor just hits you, it is complex and different. If I was going to eat a pine tree then this is what it would taste like. As it warms I taste something else that is sweet in there, some sort of berry maybe. I don’t like it that much when it is cold, but it is better as it warms. Nice and smooth too and hey it will keep me in good health haha.

Medium statured tan head, fair retention with minimal laceing.Clear brown brew with a light red glow. Nice caramelly nose with some berryish notes. Med/light body, creamy. Good maltiness, lightly piney of course but more of a black raspberry flavor to it. Interesting. Finish is fairly dry and fruity.

Sparkling clear, copper ale with a small, frothy, off-white head. Minimal lace. Decent retention. The nose is matly and earthy with notes of beef stock, wood and solvent. Hearty, well-balanced flavor. No mistaking the alcohol content. Beefy, citrusy and tangy. Medium-bodied with a silky mouthfeel and fizzy carbonation. Lengthy, lightly tart, dry finish with just a whisper of pine at the very wee end.

Brown with small head. Malt, caramel, fruit, herbs/pine, earthy, soft. Complex. Nice.

Kinda has a soapy pine aroma. That may be the glass. Hazy brown body with a foamy head. Very good beer. Not as piney as I expected. Just a smooth, well-balanced ale.

(on bottle) Remarkable, no less. By mistake our first bottle was served at about 12 degrees celcius; big mistake. This ale must be served at roomtemperature. The color is much as fresh cut pine, the raisin still runing. But the nose is very much spruce, sweet and acid as rasin. A very big mouthfull this one. Full of the above and no traces of either malts or hops. Allmost a cognagcish end; the alcohol raises in the mouth and makes the flavours work with ones breathing. Thanx for making this brew.