Heather Ales Fraoch (Bottle)

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

Partly cloudy golden body topped by a little white ring of foam. Smell is horrible. The due date is 8 months from now so it cannot be because it is past due date. Plus there’s no typical signs of infection. It just stinks. Like rotting fruits and vegetables left in a hot humid sunny room for a week. Gross. Oh, and some malt caramel too. After pinching my nose I realized the taste was “fortunately” just boring. The attack is thin/watery, then it develops flavours of cereals and ripe peaches. Average carbonation, medium body. I would rate it as just a boring English ale but the smell was just atrocious. I hope there was something wrong with my bottle. They brag about “Heather ale is probably the oldest style of ale still produced in the world”, well, my bottle smelled like if it was part of the first batch.

Ughh! Only 5% alcohol and they still screwed the pooch on this beer. A very different flavor. It needs hops. Please add some hops!

Bottle from Utobeer. Clear amber body with a thin white head. Smell of dark berries. Light mouthfeel with taste of sweet, black currant supported by malty notes. Diluted. Unusual, but pretty fair (03.02.2007).

Bouteille de 330 ml achetée à la LCBO (Ottawa, ONT). Arôme: Odeur de malt et d’houblon floral. Apparence: La couleur est blonde orangée voilée avec une faible densité de bulle. Présence d’un mince col mousseux et d’une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût de pin et d’agrumes avec une pointe d’épices. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture légèrement crémeuse. Moyenne effervescence en bouche. Présence d’agrumes en arrière goût. (Rating #843)

Nose of alcohol, slight scotch note from the herbs and earthiness of it. Sweet up front with a good balance to it, very spicy and dry. Pours cloudy amber with a tall white head.

Ancient brew with an interesting aroma. Heather flowers - although I’ve never seen one - contribute an interesting flavor. Have to say, it adds a ’flowery’ aroma like none other (not ’flowery’ like cascade hops... more like ’flowery,’ as in ’earthy’ and ’grassy’). Not bad. My only complaint is that I found it a little too sweet. Enjoyed the clean, dry, ’wine-like’ finish though. Definitely a unique brew.

500. Pours dark straw color with a moderate white suday head. Light floral and grassy nose with some sweat in there. Decent lace on the way down. Soft carb, lightish body, clean sweet flavors of grass and floral and hay, maybe very faint lemon. This is a fairly nondescript beer that my sweet spots for whatever reason determine to be a perfect food accompaniment. It’s not too awfully much as a sipper or a quaffer, but it just happens to seem perfect next to a plate of grub, especially outside. I can’t even explain it, because I don’t think it’s all that special, but it works, so I go with it.

Hazy orange amber. Earthy aroma, elements of hay and honey. I’m getting absolutely none of the flowery/spicy notes that others have described. Very malty palate, again earthy with a subtle ginger spice note every now and then, but generally just malty. I’m wondering whether this has sat on the shelf for many months and lost some of its character, as I failed to appreciate any of the "wine-like" or floral elements that have been described by the brewer and by other raters. Shared with Tyler Durden.