Heather Ales Fraoch (Bottle)

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

Very interesting, well-crafted ale. Very distinct, flowery and spicy at the same time. Little honey flavor, finishes well

flowery, sweet some spice, like nutmeg cloves and honey. hazy orange colour, lotsa earthy aroma, nice smooth aftertaste.

Bottle: Brilliant amber ale with a rocky-sticky 3 finger cap that laces the supreme hell out of the glass sides! Looks great...Lottsa malt! Siganture aromas for this brewer: floral wild botanicals with a musty-woody herbaceous decernment, some clover honey-like sweetness. Rigid primal malt spine, medium body, floral-herbal-grainy character Up front a rush a solid coarse ground bready malts just as they begin to sweeten, a flood of herbal-botanical flavors rush in to keep them from cloying...nice herbal-musk mellon tastes devlop...finish is mellow, soft and accentuated with a nice herbacious heather-like taste that lingers as lightly bittering aftertaste with the hopping. I’m really impressed with the ales from this brewer....consistantly malt-herbal tasting and infinitely mellow with a soft mineral mouth.

Pours an apple juice color with hardly any head. Aroma is mainly flowery maltyness. Fairly thin and light. Seems watered down almost. Earthy malt touch, slight herbal aspect. Bit appley, with a later nutty toffee-like sweet hint. Has a light finish. Too thin, not impressive. If the flavors were fuller and the finish was more apparent it would be much better.

12 oz bottle

I picked this up on clearance at Woodman’s for $1.49. That is about what I feel it is worth - it was pretty good for a traditional ale but there is a reason that I do not actively seek out more of this style. It’s not bad but at the same time it does not have anything exciting going for it. If you find it on sale give it a try but don’t pay much more than $2 for it.

Aroma / Appearance - The pour resulted in a copper colored body that let much of the light trickle through it. It was extremely flat with no carbonation or head. Hints of sherry, white wine, vanilla and almonds compose a sweet nose which is not very strong at all.

Flavor / Palate - The first sip was a very weak combination of cherries and honeydew melon. Faint floral notes highlight a semisweet mouthfeel that tastes more like a white wine than a beer to me. Another possible similarity is to unsweetened iced tea. There might be a hint of spiciness but on the whole this was very bland. I am glad to have tried it but so far I have yet to find a traditional ale that makes me want to come back for more other than Hair of the Dog Adam. That one is hard to come by in Wisconsin though.

Pous a sparkling orangey-golden with clarity and a small, fizzy, white head which does not stick around. Nose is definately floral in charcter with a toasty, bready, yeasty note, maybe even a litlle minty. Flavor is similar, minty, toasty, bready, spicy, with still the floral herbal charcter found throughout. Bitterness is moderately low and balanes well; finish is dry with the flavors just falling ghostly out of the picture. Palate is fitting, soft, medium to low, and dry. For what the beer is, it does very well. But, I don’t find it to my tastes and would not buy again.

Usually don’t comment on this, but it’s a pretty neat looking label and the beer pours beautifully. Not much on the nose, and the mouth feel is a little thin for my liking, otherwise a much higher rating would be in order.

The aroma has a distinctive floral character and the color is a golden with a white head. The flavor is much like that of a flower petal, somewhat characteristic of edible orchids. This is balanced with some maltiness and a bit of hoppish spiciness. The finish is smooth.