Heather Ales Alba

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

In the 330 mL bottle from Cyclone Liquors. Pours a lovely reddish dark orange color with a thin white head. Outstanding aroma of a berry fruit dressing. Fantastic flavor that is malty and sweet. I get little pine or spruce from this, but it sure is delicious.

Appearance: toffee color. Medium head, of beige color, consistent and persistent. Good adherence to glass. Aroma: sweet malty, candy, toffee, truffle, honey and vanilla. Fruitiness of peaches; intensive in pine, eucalyptus and herby. Liquory. Without perceptible hoppy. I would not say complex, I would say “complete and exotic”. Flavor: candy malty, yeasty, soft toasty, toffee, milk candy, vanilla and propolis. Few fruitiness, peaches mainly. Very intensive in pine (obviously); too herby, eucalyptus and “avocado-honey” (in Chile: “palto-miel”, a natural medicine for cough) touches. Liquory, with reminiscences of Baileys (whisky cream). Sweet start, with progress to a warm and fresh pine final. Low dryness. Palate: medium body, oily texture. Low carbonation. Exotic, nice and complete beer, “own identity”, only a few excessive yeasty.

Pours a slightly opaque gold-brown with a small ring of foam but not much of a head. Pleasant pine flavour blends well with the hops and simply makes it seem more fruity. It has a caramel taste that reminds me of a Quadroupel, and a moderate fruity taste to it as well. Thin but smooth, creamy body.

Bottle. Last beer in the Historic Ales of Scotland set. I had put this beer off til last figuring I wouldn’t like it at all. Come on, brewed with pine and spruce, I was expecting it to taste like gin. I was wrong. The beer poured a murky amber in color, with a tan head. The aroma was a bit grainy/woody, but also a bit sweet/fruity?. The flavor was a mellow grainy, yet smoothly sweet mix with a touch of bite. Rather enjoyed this for something different.

Bottle part of "Historic Ales of Scotland" pack. Nice looking dark amber ale. Had no idea what to expect from this really. Sweet, spicy aroma. First sip threw me off a bit. Very sweet, very little carbonation. The alcohol is indeed present, but not in a bad way. Aftertaste is where the pine and/or spruce comes into play. Very unique beer indeed, and pretty damn good overall.

An odd and unique beer. Pour was a dark orange with no head. Aroma of malt and some hops. Taste was, amazingly enough, spicy and woody. There was some hard candy type flavors...hot cinnamon/Atomic fireball. Very sweet and thick aftertaste. Pine and beer...who’d a thought?

Rich reddish copper with a reasonable but thin white head, looks flavorful. Dry spicey and not so piney as most big hop varieties. Something strongly herbal and spicey reminds me of HotD Rose. Cinnamon? A little fruit. A lot going on in here. Thick, with low carbonation, this beer has good viscosity. Pine comes out a bit more in the flavor, but there’s a much stronger berry fruitiness, with allspice and some very strong acidity. Alcohol and pine are big in the aftertaste, breaking away from the spicey acidity in the finish. Very interesting, and I couldn’t drink a ton of this, but it’s fun to sip on for a bit. Next bottle, if I pick one up, I will certainly split a couple ways, or more.

I had looked very much forward to tasting this beer, because we are growing spruce for Christmas as a side job, but woods, nature, wildlife and hunting also are a natural part in our lives. Furthermore the brewing method sounds incredibly exciting, using sprigs of pine and fresh shoots of spruce. The head is nice and has rather big bubbles, so it disappears quickly. The color is dark amber and the aroma has clear notes of pine and a bit of malt. The mouthfeel is round and the flavour is initially sweet, but then the pine hits the tongue in an almost explosive way. Even if I were prepared, I actually briefly thinks: Who the H... has poured pine foam bath in my beer??? The sweetness and the pine needles are the main impressions in this exciting beer. My lips are covered with a sticky, thin layer of resin and perhaps sugar, and my glass has to be washed really thoruogly before the next beer. It’s a fun, almost humoristic beer, than any beer enthusiast has to taste at least once. I’m not sure I’ll buy another, but offered I clearly would say Yes, please...