Got heather?

[Parky]

Well it's that time of year again, and I'll be off to the hills of Wicklow this weekend (weather permitting!) to collect heather to make a heather ale.

If anyone wants me to collect a few sprigs, a bushel, or whatever a quantity of heather is called , let me know and I'll bring some along to the September meet.

[Bubbles]

I think there's a BYO recipe for Fraoch knocking about t'internet. I've got in a mag if you can't find it online.

Got to admit.. I didn't know we even had heather here...

[molc]

Should talk to bigvalen - he loves making those crazy , err, heathery experiments.

What family of plants is a Heather anyway. Bush?

[Simon_]

What family of plants is a Heather anyway. Bush?

A shrub?

[Parky]

What family of plants is a Heather anyway. Bush?

A shrub?

Maybe it's a bushy shrub 



Clough More (brewed by Whitewater 'up north') make a lovely heather ale and look like they've been out foraging for heather recently, with a few pics of their efforts on their Facebook page here.

Best time to collect heather is July/August, so I'm cutting it fine, but the weather has been a washout this year, and hopefully we'll get a few dry days in the next few weeks so I can stock up and get some 'Viking ale' going in the FV.

@Bubbles - Thanks for the heads-up on the BYO Fraoch article, managed to get it online here, sorted!

[Parky]

Managed to dodge the rain clouds at the weekend and gathered a nice bag of heather tips and branches.

Haven't brewed with heather before, so made a tea to test the flavour. I've read that heather adds a spicy flavour to ale, but was getting more of an earthy floral flavour and aroma (or as Mrs Parky put it - 'interesting and rustic'). I gathered some yarrow on the day also, and that was more of a hit, slight lemon flavour with a slight hint of wintergreen in there. Maybe they need to be boiled to get the full effects, we'll see how it goes when I get around to brewing up a Viking ale soon.

[Bubbles]

What family of plants is a Heather anyway. Bush?

A shrub?

Maybe it's a bushy shrub 



Clough More (brewed by Whitewater 'up north') make a lovely heather ale and look like they've been out foraging for heather recently, with a few pics of their efforts on their Facebook page here.

Best time to collect heather is July/August, so I'm cutting it fine, but the weather has been a washout this year, and hopefully we'll get a few dry days in the next few weeks so I can stock up and get some 'Viking ale' going in the FV.

@Bubbles - Thanks for the heads-up on the BYO Fraoch article, managed to get it online here, sorted!

No bother man. Let us know how you get on.

[Parky]

For anyone who's interested I've posted the brew day walkthrough here 

[Bubbles]

Nice work there parky. Lovely walkthrough and pics!

[Parky]

Thanks man, not a lot of detailed info on heather ale out there, so hopefully the walkthrough will help other brewers too.

[Leann ull]

Nice experiment, one of our local guys used bog myrtle for bittering, got ratios wrong and it wasn't great if I'm honest.