Heather Ales Fraoch (Bottle)

bottle from World of Beer, Clearwater - light orange head, taste the heather and other florals, light honey and dry finish - very enjoyable. 1st had this beer at Fox and Hounds Tavern in Gatlinburg years ago and got my 1st 2000 degree fire burned beer mug - those were the days!

Dark golden, hazy, beautiful and lasting head. The aroma is malty and sweetish. The flavour is completely it’s own. Initially I think it’s a bit thin, but after a while it gets more body. The malt is dominant, but the heater flowers are very clear too, and enhances the brew with exciting spice. The heather honey is there too. The bittereness is low. A nice and fun beer, a bit on the perhaps too sweet side...

Original rating from 3/24/07: Pours a hazy amber with sparse but persistent carbonation. Smells of heath, pine, some pepper, spices. Tastes of perfumy wildflowers and sweet malt with a rich flowery finish. This is an enjoyable beer, but not in the same ballpark as the pine ale.
Ar: 7 App: 4 Fl: 6 Pa: 4 Ov: 13

Updated rating 2/23/08: As an experiment, I cellared a 4 year vertical of this beer to see how the Heather affects how this beer ages over time and also sampled an older bottle of Highlands Heather Ale for comparison.

2004 bottle: Aroma and flavor profile is dominated by caramel, some tartness has creeped into this beer, but amazingly, the floral hints presented by the heather have become slightly more pronounced.

2005 bottle: Some fading present, lots of sweetness, some floral hints, but not quite as pronounced at the 2004 bottle. Spiciness has blended nicely with the heather.

2006 bottle: Lots of caramel and some nuttiness as well as some dark fruit. Floral character from the Heather is not as established as in the older bottles.

2007 bottle: Lots of spice and caramel, hints of heather, not as much balance in the beer.

Overall impressions: This beer actually tastes better with a year or two of cellaring before starting to fade at around 3 years old. Nevertheless, this more extensive revisit of this beer has caused me to rethink my rating of the beer and bump the aroma and flavor scores to 8s and the overall to a 16. Definitely one of the more interesting beers out there. I’m looking forward to doing a similar comparison with their pine ale in the not too distant future.

Orange /cloudy with not much head. Mild sweet taste, and very watery. Not great.

Deep golden/orange hazy look with a fine white bubbling head. Aroma is heather spicey and honey sweet. The flavor is really nice. Interresting spicey notes without being too weird, some sweetness in there and bitterness in the finish. Good brew

Cloudy amber, very little head. A smooth sipper with a citrusy finish. Nice enough, but nothing special.

Pale yellow in colour. Absolutely no head. Sweet smelling, hints of white grape, passion fruit, or something similar. Taste is sweet and refreshing with a nice light touch of honey.

Medium shiny offwhite head. Bronze body. Strange sweetish aroma of unidentifiable herbs, probably heather. Taste is light sweetish herbal with honey notes. Aftertaste is dry and metallic. Very interesting, and quite nice. (0.5l bottle.)