Heather Ales Fraoch (Bottle)

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

Appearance: turbid amber color. Little but lasting head with ivory color and good adherence at glass. Aroma: exotic flower smells, slightly mentholated with tones of malts and yeast. Flavor: dominated for a flower taste that injects a light sweetness and dryness with some herbal touches. Some slight aniseed and chamomile notes. Palate: medium body, silky texture and light carbonation. In short, a exotic and own floral character but without great points.

(bottle) Slightly hazy, pale golden colour with a mid-sized, slightly yellow foamy head. Slightly dusty, moderately sweet malty and flowery an herbal hoppy nose. Sweet-bitter flavour, light to medium bodied with a soft carbonation. Malty and flowery, subtle fruity taste; sweet-bitter, floral and slightly herbal hoppy finish. Not my kind of taste but otherwise drinkable (05.03.08).

Old bottle from 2005, freebie thanks to my favorite local bottle retailer. Strong aroma of honey when you pop the lid. I always thought lambic was the oldest style beer but this says this style was brewed clear back in 2000BC! Tastes allot more like conventional pale yellow american than lambic does, that’s fer sure. I’m not sure about what heather tastes or smells like but I don’t detect anything in here except beer and honey in the aroma and.... some kinda spice in the flavors. Oh, yes, I do get that dry white wine effect on the finish, it’s funny how much it feels like a watered down wine on the finish. Very mild carbonation but it sure is present. Could this simply be a very mild mead?

Pours clear honeyish color with no head, but a stream of bubbles rising from the bottom. Sweet floral honey nose with some soured barley and maybe grapeish aromas. There is a bit of pilsner character in the nose as well. Very soft onset, slightly diluted floral malts, heather, jasmine, and lilac flavors. Very mild balanced sweetness. Tastes like a lush grove in the spring. This is a nice champagney beer which seems under rated in my opinion.

Bottle. Hazy dark gold in color. Light smell of wild flowers. Tastes of honey and flowers but is hard to pin down as it quickly disappears. Subtly refreshing.

330ml bottle. Cloudy and thick light brown color. Full of sediment. Sweet with a mild herbal finish. Tastes mildly of honey. Very easy drinking. I had held this beer in higher regard in previous samplings, maybe this bottle is a little past it’s prime.

Bottle. Wooden juniper and strawberry aroma. Hazy amber, low white head. Somewhat disappointing flavor: Light straw and cookie malt, light heather bitterness. Lightbodied, mellow. Fairly dead aftertaste.

[WBA Styles Tasting] Clear yellow color. Very distinct flowery aroma... herbal, almost root-like. No real hop presence. Spicy, herbal flavors, very interesting-- almost like a curry spice character. Fruity apple flavors underneath. Complex and slightly tart. Finishes clean. Overall, quite tasty and interesting.