Alba Scots Pine Ale

Origin: Scotland

Type: Triple

Color: Amber

Alcohol content: 7.5%

Recommended serving temperature: 12ºC/54ºF

Brewery: Williams Bros. Brewing Co.

Webpage: http://www.williamsbrosbrew.com/beerboard/bottles/alba

This is the second beer I've tried that's brewed by the Williams Bros. Brewing Company, after the Fraoch Heather Ale, on which I already wrote a post a few months ago. I got it as part of a pretty substantial order I made for a small gathering with friends, but kept it for my own personal stash, hidden away to try on my own so I could appreciate it without any distractions. After all, the description seemed original and promising and it came with the added endorsement of being brewed by the same brewery which gave us the mentioned Fraoch Heather Ale.

The beer is amber in color but not too dense in texture, as a matter of fact it is almost translucent, see-through. It has as a consequence a certain marzenbier look to it, albeit a smaller amount of foam than marzenbiers tend to develop. It is nevertheless noticeably carbonated despite the moderate amount of foam.

It has a pretty sweet smell where you can notice malt and honey, giving it a certain sweetness in its odor, and pines and forest-like touches.

The latter are also present in its taste, while the former virtually disappear.

Indeed, the main flavors I get on taking a swig of this beer are herbs, licorice and pine. However, even if the malt and honey disappear in the taste of this beer, the sweetness does not, or at least does not completely. This makes for a very pleasant combination, as it takes away some of the roughness of the pine by combining it with a soft herby flavor and some sweet touches, which makes the whole thing rounder and more balanced.

The licorice I must confess is purely my own interpretation, as it is  nowhere to be seen in the ingredients. These include (aside from pine) spruce and bog myrtle, but not licorice. I imagine that the resin of these two plants is the source of the sweetness in the flavor and smell. However, licorice does come to my mind when I taste this beer, not as much due to its sweetness, but in its peculiar flavor. In fact, to be even more specific, this beer made me think of Twizzlers of all things. Random maybe, but pretty consistent with the sweet and resinous taste of its actual ingredients.

Bog Myrtle was actually often part of the mix of different herbs known as Gruit, with which beer was apparently made in the middle ages in (parts of) Europe, albeit in different varieties (this was the case for example in Brugges, with whose city-specific blend, according to the Brewery's webpage, Brugge Tripel was originally made).

This is therefore another one of Williams Bros.' beers that are made inspired on antique or traditional methods (like Fraoch Heather Ale), and another one which is absolutely spot on.

The end result is a soft and slightly sweet beer, with piney notes in smell and taste, and herby, resinous, almost Twizzlery taste, and in which alcohol appears only briefly, giving way to a slightly sweet and sour end. Truly a great beer (reenactment).

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