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Heather Ales Ebulum

Percentile
85
overall
Brewed by Williams Brothers (Heather Ales)
Style: Traditional Ale

Alloa, Central, Scotland

bottled
common

on tap
unknown

Broad Distribution
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RatingsAverageScoreABVStyle PctlServe in
5893.45/5.03.45/5.06.5%85.3Dimpled mug, English pint, Stein, Yard
Commercial Description:
Bottled. A cask version at 5.8% is produced in October and November.
"Elderberry Black Ale"
Introduced to Scotland by Welsh druids in the 9th Century, elderberry black ale was part of the Celtic Autumn festivals when the "elders" would make this strong ale and pass the drink round the people of the village. The recipe was taken from a 16th Century record of domestic drinking in the Scottish Highlands. Elderberries were used for many natural remedies to cure sciatica, other forms of neuralgia, influenza and rhumatism as they contain tannins and fruit oils.
Ebulum is made from roasted oats, barley and wheat boiled with herbs then fermented with ripe elderberries.
A rich black ale with fruit aroma, silky soft texture,soft roasted flavour and gentle finish.
Recommended with stewed and baked foods.
Drink lightly chilled from a straight glass.
 Most Recent Top Raters Highest Ratings Who's Rated This?  
 RaphaelN (195), Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
2.5 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/104/54/104/57/20
Dec 1, 2007  
Bottle shared with a friend.... Bacon! This beer dominates with a smokey bacon taste.Absolutely horrid taste, with a lasting aftertaste which is equally bad. Smell was of roast, peat, more bacon in the nose. Stay away for your own palate’s sake.


 jcwattsrugger (5223), Florida and, New Jersey, USA
2.8 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/103/55/103/511/20
Nov 25, 2007  
500ml bottle -pours a ? head and ? color. Aroma is chocolate, charcoal, grain. Taste is chocolate, charcoal. Grainy mouth feel.


 Juelze (895), Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA
3.3 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/103/57/103/514/20
Nov 25, 2007  
Pours a dark brown color with tan head. Aroma is of a light chocolate and fruit with a bit of roasted grain. Taste is chocolate, light smoke, roasted malt and light fruit (elderberries). Medium bodied and nice to the palate, this was a good beer.


 Petrucci914 (578), Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA
3.1 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
5/103/56/103/514/20
Nov 24, 2007  
Pours a dark brown with a red tinge. Aroma is of dark roasted oats and red wine. The flavor is of red wine with a smokiness to it.


 yespr (12018), Copenhagen O, Denmark
3.3 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/104/56/104/513/20
Nov 20, 2007  
33 cL bottle. Pours pitch black and with a dense light brown head. Spiced and dark roasted aroma. Roasted malt and mild chocolate smoothness in the initial flavour. A set of wineous notes and spices appear before the finish, a citric/fruity note of elderberries too - but if I didn’t know from the label that it contains elberberries I wouldn’t have guessed/sensed it. The finish itself holds a solid bitterness with a liqourice note. Nice, but lacks some more powerful flavours to be more interesting, subtle flavours are plentiful yet too vague.


 yarry (370), Waterdown, Ontario, Canada
3.1 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
5/103/57/103/513/20
Nov 17, 2007  
330ml bottle, 6.5% a/v Pours as black, if not blacker, then Guinness with a quickly dissapating brown head. The nose is very fruity, seemingly raspberry and red wine. The flavour is red wine, oak, and roasted malt with an aftertaste of tannin rich red wine and dark chocolate.


 JesseM (665), Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
3.6 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/103/58/103/515/20
Nov 15, 2007  
Pours an almost pitch black with a tiny brown head. The aroma is of dark roasted malts, molasses, somewhat fruity, but not really. It smells exactly like a porter to be honest, which isn’t really a bad thing necessarily. The taste is pretty much the exact same as a plain porter, roasted oats/barley, very tasty, but nothing all that unique except for a touch of something fruity in the after taste, which I guess could be the "elderberries", which in general add a slightly sweet edge to the aroma and flavour. No serious traces of the wheat or the herbs that are supposedly used to brew this. the mouth-feel is slick and oily. It’s a pretty good beer, actually I’ll go out on a limb here and call this an enjoyable "porter" of sorts. It’s just nothing all that unique.


 Gpnterojd (163), Orangeville, Ontario, Canada
3.4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/103/57/104/513/20
Nov 11, 2007  
Pours black with rich brown head. Aroma is quite sweet. Possibly some mint / menthol. Lightly toasted malts in the aroma as well. Taste is much different from what I expected. It is almost a stout. The sweetness in the aroma is absent, replaced by soft, toasted (and sour) malts. The hops provide a nice balance. Slight fruitiness is provided by elderberries. Beer is very creamy and smooth -- decent mouthfeel. Solid beer.



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