Heather Ales Fraoch (Bottle)

Pours hazy golden orange with almost no head. Herbal taste of flowers, clover and honey with fresh wood undertones. Very little carbonation. Reminiscient of an herbal ice tea. The healthiest tasting beer I have ever sampled.

Dark golden beer with a nice medium head. Malt aroma with herbs, obviously mostly heather. Weak flavour with a little earth and some bitterness at the end. OK, but not spectacular.

Bottle. Amber brown with no head. Smells of earthy spices... some dried flowers, some dirt, some slightly cinnamonlike aroma that isn’t quite cinnamon. Flavor... ooh it’s a strange one. A bit of earthiness to it as well. Dirtiness, some dried flowers, slight pepper- kinda like "poor-man’s pepper" in the finish. Decent tasting, but not something I’m crazy about. Definitely gets a point for originality and for bring back an old style that nobody else does. Addendum: the further into the glass i get, the more I enjoy it.

Poured from the bottle at The White Horse in Parsons Green, a light orange with no head. A spicey/fruity aroma with hints of oranges. The flavour is a lot like heather smells (funny enough), a little honeyish. A bit too carbonated unfortunately and a tanginess left in the mouth. A long lingering aftertaste though, and enjoyably different.

Flavors of plant and earth sweet flavors. Not all that appealing. Ver little carbonation and thin head. Interesting beer from a historic perspecitve.....but.... don’t think I will be buying again. Unusual to say the least.

To be perfectly honest, I didn’t appreciate any flavor characters that set this beer apart from any other well-made ale of medium body and flavor. But continuing in the same vein of honesty, I’d already had a beer or two AND I may have chilled this beer down too far, which would, of course, mute the complexities of flavor. Definitely a beer that I will be re-sampling and re-rating.

Bottle. Pours an orange-gold hue with a a thin, but solid, white head. There is quite a bit of rosemary and sage in the nose, along with some earthy sweetness. The flavor is very herbacious... again with the rosemary (I suppose that is actually the taste of heather), and some malt/hops in the background. Clover and other plants in the finish. This brew has a very organic feel to it all around which, to me, is very desirable. I can see, however, how this could be an acquired taste.

Bottle. Pours a cloudy copper with a somewhat lasting large white head. Mild aroma of honey, oranges (and other fruit), caramel malt, light hops and spices. Mild malty flavour of sweet wine, fruit, honey, caramel and flowers -- almost Fruit Beer-like. I would prefer this with more hops but as it is it’s enjoyable, just not a favourite.