Heather Ales Alba

	Percentile
	81
	overall

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

bottled
common

on tap
unknown

Broad Distribution
Find this beer

send corrections | shelftag

Ratings	Average	Score	ABV	Style Pctl	Serve in
627	3.38/5.0	3.38/5.0	7.5%	75.2	Dimpled mug, English pint, Stein, Yard

Commercial Description:
Bottled. A cask version at 6% is produced in March and April.
"Scots Pine Ale"
Introduced by the Vikings, spruce and pine ales were very popular in the Scottish Highlands until the end of the 19th century. Many early explorers, including Captain Cook, used spruce ale during long sea voyages since it prevented scurvy and ill health. Shetland spruce ale was said to "stimulate animal instincts" and give you twins. Alba is a triple style ale brewed to a traditional Highland recipe from Scots pine and spruce shoots pickled during early spring.Pure malted barley, is boiled with the young sprigs of pine for several hours then the fresh shoots of the spruce are added for a short infusion before fermentation.
A tawny brown strong ale with spruce aroma, rich malt texture, complex wood flavour and lingering finish.
Best drunk at room temperature from a wine goblet as an after dinner digestive.

Please Enable Javascript

This site requires javascript enabled and/or approval of googlesyndication.com.

Most Recent

Top Raters

Highest Ratings

Who's Rated This?

VikingMetalGod (31), Manchester, New Hampshire, USA

2.8	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
2.8	6/10	4/5	5/10	3/5	10/20

Apr 7, 2009

Bottle from kappy’s. Aroma is malty and sweet with pine, go figure. Some fruity, sugary notes as well. Appearance is dark brown, hazy with a short, quickly disappearing head. Flavor is...strange. Definitely an ale flavor with malt and hops, but also piney and sweet. Certainly lives up to the description. Not a bad beer, but not one I’d reach for again. Finish is piney with lingering hops and slightly alcoholic. I would like to try this without the pine infusion as I think it would be a decent ale. Otherwise, it’s interesting but not my cup o’ beer.

HenrikSoegaard (4351), Randers, Denmark

3.6	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
3.6	7/10	4/5	7/10	3/5	15/20

Apr 6, 2009

Bottle. Frothy off-white good mostly lasting head. Amber colour. Moderate malty and hoppy aroma. Moderate bitter flavor. Very v caramellic and nice pine notes. Average moderate bitter finish. Oily palate.

onystrom (790), Århus-Randers Crew, Denmark

3.5	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
3.5	7/10	3/5	7/10	4/5	14/20

Apr 3, 2009

Clear amber color with small head. Pleasant aroma and very funny flavor, the spruce adds a spicy sweet chewing gum flavor :)

ogivlado (3070), Zagreb, Croatia

3.1	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
3.1	6/10	3/5	6/10	3/5	13/20

Apr 1, 2009

Bottled(330ml). -as Alba Scots Pine Ale. Clear amber coloured, small head that disappears in few seconds, honey wax nose with hint of spruce. Interesting taste; some sort of sweet jam mixed with perfumed candle. Spicy finish.

shawnm213 (939), South Bend, Indiana, USA

3.7	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
3.7	7/10	4/5	8/10	3/5	15/20

Mar 31, 2009

neat beer. amber color. smells like pine, tastes like pine. a very interesting beer. would try again

AndrewC (70), Canterbury, Kent, England

3	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
3	7/10	4/5	5/10	3/5	11/20

Mar 20, 2009

A red-amber colour that smells of plum blossom. Big syrupy flavour with hints of pine needles. Big long pine finish. The first proper ale I think I’ve had (if we exclude the sip of Kelpie I had a couple of years ago)

buzzoven (333), Japan

3.2	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
3.2	7/10	4/5	7/10	3/5	11/20

Mar 16, 2009

Very interesting ale with a truly unique and wild scent of...candy coated lemon cake, fermented hayseed, brandy-soaked licorice. Taste leans on the slightly sweet side with some boozy hints and some cotton candy aspects as well. Not really sure how great this is, but it was entertaining as hell. The term "bewitching" kept popping up in my head as I drank this. The term "yeah!" also popped up in my head because I listened to the new Morrissey album as I enjoyed this pint. Viva Moz! Viva Alba!

armando629 (986), Budapest, Hungary

3.7	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
3.7	7/10	4/5	7/10	3/5	16/20

Mar 15, 2009

Fine and interesting one. Moderated character, It not knocks You out with the high percentage of alcohol. Nice amber color with a small delicious tan head. Interesting aroma of pine and some caramel, nice ale character with fruitiness. Smooth mouthfeel, not an overpowered alcohol character, freaky tastes of fruits and honey. It was fine.

CONSIDER FREE RATEBEER MEMBERSHIP

Join us! RateBeer is made by beer enthusiasts for the craft beer community. Your basic membership is free and allows you to read all beer ratings. Click here to create your account... and give your opinion!

SIGN UP NOW »

View Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63

More Traditional Ales By Style
Bøgedal Nr. 0131 78
Bøgedal Nr. 0137 64
Bøgedal Nr. 0110 89
Traquair Jacobite Ale 99
Dogfish Head Chateau Jiahu 74
Dogfish Head Theobroma 70
Barley Island Sinister Minister Belgian Black Ale 66
Dogfish Head Sahtea 93
Bøgedal Nr. 0073 94
Goedecke Döllnitzer Ritterguts Gose 88
Heather Ales Kelpie 71
Sly Fox Grisette 88
Samuel Adams Koggen 61
Bøgedal Nr. 0090 74
Bøgedal Nr. 0130 63

please support all of this page