Heather Ales Ebulum

(11.2 oz bottle: Part of the "Historic Ales from Scotland" giftpack) A scrumptious black ale that is malty, very roasty, moderately sweet, and mildly bitter in the finish. Not quite sure what elderberries smell or taste like, but there is a moderate tart berry flavor to this beer from start to finish, but especially late. The nose is quite roasty, with a tart berry aroma that’s much better than the French Soldiers would lead you to believe. Very light carbonated on the palate, medium in body. Opaque and very dark brown with a ruddy hue. Headless pour, only a very small rim around the glass, and no lacing either. Not quite as good as Kelpie, but comes in maybe just slightly ahead of Alba in the giftpack.

Third from a series of four "historic ales from Scotland" gift-pack. Dark with very subtle reddish hues, with only a few hints of froathy bubbles. Again, I’m sure it’s historically accurate, but I don’t have to like it... Dark chocolate sweet and acrid coffee grounds roasted nose. Taste is roasted malt, but with a nice sweet and tart blackberry twang, it sort of reminds me of Magic Hat’s feast of fools, albeit a much more tame version.

Bottle. Dark brown. Small tan bubbles around the edges. Aroma has a light tart berry notes, dry roasted malts and some plant-like notes. Light smoky notes as well. Taste is smoky and laced with light tart berries. More dry roasted malts and light grains. Body is semi-smooth and moderately carbonated. Finishes with more light smokiness and roasted malts with faint fruitiness.

Pours deep brown with no head. Dull aroma, nothing much really, kind of paper like. Taste is smokey, roasted malt, cofee, fruity. Aftertaste dies away into nothing. An interesting beer. Not bad.

This is a pretty beer. Pours black with a tan head. Aroma is slightly sweet, smells like a good stout. Tastes completely different from how it smells. Tastes of malt with little roasted character, and a bit of a strange aftertaste. This beer is thin, as I expected for a black ale. Overall, I expected more from this beer.

Sweet, fruity aroma (but that is to be expected, I guess) with a beautiful purplish color. Overall I found this ale to be too sweet. It would probably make a good cough suppresant.

The aroma of this jet black brew contains strong burnt peat notes with hints of berry fruity resonance. Berries do not, by any means, dominate the flavor. This is similar to what you might get if you took a bland porter and mixed it with berries and tea leaves. This brew had a curious nagging flavor element that I could not place my finder on. Unfortunately, it was this element that ruind the brew for me. I would not revisit this one.

Sweet malt with a sour fruit note...like cough medicine...but the thinness of mouthfeel detracts somewhat, from what would otherwise have been an interesting drink. Nice experiment, though.