Williams Brothers(Heather Ales) - Alba

The last bottle in a historical ales of Scotland gift pack that I had, this is a Scots Pine Ale. After tasting quite a few of the other Williams Brothers range now I would recommend to anyone that has not encountered them before to give them a try, they are well worth looking out for....

A light sweet waft of fruit, hops and citrus from the pour.

Alba pours clear amber red with an off-white head. Very sweet on the intake with roasted malt, pine, caramel and light fruits while the finish is spicy with alcohol warming through. This has a long peppery spiced aftertaste with caramel and honey in the background. Quite a silky smooth mouthfeel due to the low carbonation. The alcohol, while you can feel it does not overtake the flavours.

At first I thought this was too sweet for me but after a few chugs it balanced a lot more out. I ended up quite happy drinking this as more flavours came out as it warmed in the end to room temperature. My lesson to mainly myself here is, let this one warm up a bit if you have chilled it. They do recommend room temperature on the label blurb...which depending where you are in the world and what time of year it is means absolutely zilch. In the end I enjoyed this one and would have no problem buying or drinking again...one a night is enough. My little personal gripe with this, not enough pine, I'd like more.

This scored a braw 8.5/10 on the 'Slainte mhor agad !' Beerometer.

Alc : 7.5%
Where to buy CPH : Last seen in Fish & Beer a month or so back.