Heather Ales Fraoch (Bottle)

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

The oldest style of ale is a heafty reputation to live up to. This is great... rich orange colour no head. Aroma is refreshing with hints of pond, honey, florals, roses, butter, fresh, and sweet. Light body with a warm mouth flavor that is difficult to describe. Great malt, lean on the hops, but the heather and honey flavor make up for lack of hoppiness, and make for a great brew. Drink this one up folks!

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.

Bottle. I discovered this one in a small pub far, far out in the Scottish highland on a hiking holiday last year. It was -and is- fantastic. It’s light and flowery, sweet and bitter. But most of all, it’s one of those beers I’ll never forget.

This beer is very sweet in a way that no other normal brew can be. Heather is what was used to keep the beer fresh before hops became used. This beer does taste like a german style lager with a very pleasantly sweet taste mixed with it. It is very enjoyable and very drinkable. light bodied.

11.2 ounce bottle- I wish it was a 12 ounce bottle, or a 16 ouncer! Poured an unpromising cloudy gold with a small white head. Aroma was floral and fresh. Taste had a semi-hidden sweetness with a strong honey or clover, back. Had an almost creamy texture in the mouth. Very pleasurable. Definitely a keeper. Get some.

I was very surprised by the aroma of this beer. Has a sweet and spicy zang to it. The color is golden with a little brown. A very enjoyable beer.

An interesting Scottish ale, one of the better ones produced here. Very herby aroma and taste to go with it. Bought from local oddbins.

This isint the most powerfull or complex beer but it is incredibly refreshing and so drinkable. A great think to sart or finnish a night. Refreshes the palat after a hevy meal or other beer. Citrusy and herbal. Almost a honey suckel flavore to it.