ShopRite Wines & Spirits Micro-Brew Edition

These beers pre-date the popularity of hops. This variety of four ales including Elderberry Black Ale, Scotts Pine Ale, Heather Ale, and Seaweed Ale will show what beer was like way back when. This is a must for any beer historian or anybody who wants to explore the parameters of beer.

From the Brewer –

Ebulum – Elderberry Black Ale – Introduced to Scotland by Welsh Druids in the 9th Century, elderberry ale was part of the Celtic Autumn festivals where the ale was passed round the people of the village. This recipe was taken from a 16th Century record of domestic drinking in the Scottish Highlands. In medieval times elderberries were used for many natural remedies and are known to be high in fruit tannins and oils. It is a rich black ale with fruit aroma, soft texture, roasted grain and red wine flavour, with a gentle finish.

6.5% abv

Ingredients: Water, Malted Barley Bree, Hops, Elderberries, Roasted Oats and Barley.

Alba – Scots Pine Ale –  Introduced by the Vikings, spruce and pine ales were very popular in Northern Scotland until the end of the 19th Century. Alba is a “triple” style ale, brewed to a traditional Highland recipe using the sprigs of spruce and pine collected every spring. This complex rich tawny ale is best drunk at room temperature from a wine goblet.

7.5% abv

Ingredients: Water, Malted Barley Bree, Scots Pine and Spruce Sprigs.

Fraoich – Heather Ale – Brewed in Scotland since 2000 B.C. heather ale is probably the oldest style of ale still produced in the world. From an ancient Gaelic recipe for “leann fraoich” (heather ale) it has been revived and reintroduced to the Scottish culture. Into the boiling bree of malted barley, sweet gale and flowering heather are added, then after cooling slightly the hot ale is poured into a vat of fresh heather flowers where it infuses for an hour before being fermented. A light amber ale with floral peaty aroma, full malt character, a spicy herbal flavour and dry wine like finish. 

5% abv

Kelpie – Seaweed Ale – Prior to the 1850’s there were many Scottish coastal alehouses, which brewed their own ales, these ales were made from local malted barley, which was grown on fields fertilised with seaweed. This environment gave the barley a very specific flavour which we have recreated by the inclusion of fresh seaweed in the mash tun. Seaweed (bladder rack) taken fresh from the water on the Argyll coast is ‘mashed in’ with the malted and roasted barley. Kelpie is a rich chocolate ale which has an aroma of fresh sea breeze and a distinctive malty texture.

4.4% abv

Ingredients: Malted Barley Bree, Hops and Seaweed

Format: 12 oz. bottles
Seasonality: Winter