Heather Ales Fraoch (Bottle)

Bottle. This reminds me in so many ways of the north of Jutland, where I hail from. I remember walking to the beach, to look at wome...ehh...the sunset and passing the heather covered dunes...ahhh...wonderful memories...

Je l’ai bu avec un pizza un peu d’épice, ils avaient raison. Ce n’est pas une bière typique, elle a un saveur hors de l’ordinaire, un goût d’herbe et épice, florale et beaucoup de caractaire.

Bottle at 55 F. Poured with thin tight white head leaving no lacing. Subtle herbal malty aroma and clear golden color reminiscent of a lager. Mildly bitter flavor with an herbal tea like flavor. Nice body and mildly dry finish. I’ve been looking to try this for a while (with the intent to brew some if I liked it) and I like it. With essentially nothing to compare to it’s rather hard to rate. It’s pleasantly different but at its cost not likely to find its way into my cellar much - so I’ll be brewing some I suppose.

500ml bottle from Red Wagon Shoppe in Rochester, MI. Golden-amber pour medium with off white head. Malty aroma to this with a slight scent of dried fruit, Mild and bitter first inpression with fresh herbs or tea quite distinct including notes of caramel and bread. Palate is soft and bitter. If it was a little cheaper, or if some american marcoes would brew something similar to this. The Fraoch would be my stand-by and bar beer of choice. I liked it, but it won’t blow your socks off.

This is a beer that I had been wanting to try for awhile. As a history teacher/buff, I was very interested in trying Fraoch, an ancient beer brewed in Scotland for a couple of thousand years. I must make one statement. I am easily swayed in my opinions by things that I find interesting. Beer is no exception. The concept of a historical recipe is fascinating to me. I’m not saying that I would give a bad beer a good rating simply because I think it’s cool. What I am saying is that I take into account that historical artifacts (and this would be a "modern artifact") are what they are. If heather ale is not the best beer in the world, it doesn’t lessen its significance. This beer (or something similar to it) was important to people living in Scotland thousands of years ago. To change the recipe for modern tastes would do a disservice to everyone involved. Having said that, I have to say that I was surprised at how, well, beer-like Fraoch looks. I don’t know what I was expecting but this beer looks like beer! Fraoch pours a clear gold, like bottled sunshine. I have read the reviews that say it’s cloudy but I didn’t see it. maybe it was the hefe-weizen I had earlier in the night that "clouded" my judgment. (I can’t resist a pun) The head is a slight off-white. Fraoch really does look nice. The main problem with rating this beer is, what do I compare it to? What stadard do I use? I have never had a heather ale or historical recipe. This beer is unique to me. The aroma is sour, with a very faint floral and hint of alcohol...very faint. I wish I could say it smelled like heather but I have to be honest...I don’t know what heather smells like...this beer maybe? Fraoch has a definite sweet flavor, with a very distant bitterness that flashes quickly and is gone. There is a very faint aftertaste that also lasts only a moment. This beer is very clean tasting, nicely carbonated and very spicy. All-in-all, Fraoch is a good beer. I enjoyed this beer quite a lot, and it is quite interesting, but it’s more interesting than it is tasty. This does not mean it’s bad. It doesn’t mean I will never want another. What it does mean to me is that this beer has an element that many others do not have, along with appearance, aroma, taste, etc. Fraoch has "history" and that gets high marks from me.

Bottle: Poured without a head. Flat, thin, sour taste with a weak finish. No lacing. Not what I expect/desire in a beer. Not my cup of tea. Drain pour!

Bottle. Pours cloudy yellow orange with a very small head. Aroma is pretty faint, orange, and something a bit floral maybe. Flavor of orange, pine and oak, tree like flavors (I can assume heather), yeast, and...sugar, I think. Finishes with what is sorta like watered down orange juice served in a live wood cup. Ok, its better than that sounds, though it does outstay its welcome a bit. Feel is great, not too thick, not too thin, about the consistency of whole milk. So...as with the other heather ales, this is required for the history lesson, but you probably won’t want another.

Cask at Ginger Man. Hazy pale golden with a small white head. Sour apple, grape aroma. Thin bodied. Bitter/sour fruity taste with some nice sweet malts. A weird beer to me but wasn’t horrible.