Heather

Well for all those who may not know, the state of Washington produces a lions share of the world's hops just east of the Cascades across the Yakima Valley. Most of these hops are siphoned off to become bastardized by some of the nastiest ales in the world namely Busch Lite, and I could keep listing but that one beer should tip you off as to what I'm talking about. If not please visit your local mini mart and check out the nearest 24 pack of whatever is on display at the moment. But I digress, recently a very wonderful trend has reared it's head as local breweries have begun to dot all the small cities and towns of the Valley, mostly through their ability to garner a share of hops from the plantations in the area. One of these new breweries making a good start is Yakima Craft Brewing out of where else, Yakima Washington. Now given the proximity you may think I'm going to right about some wonderfully fresh hopped ale, hahaha not so fast. This brewery has been producing a wonderful variety so far, including a hop-less heather ale. Heather ales are an ancient ale (records go all the way back to 2000 BC), brewed using heather tips as the bittering agent. I've had some awesome variations on this ale, as more and more breweries have started to experiment with these types of ales. None that quite had the wonderfully light and floral taste of this particular ale though. The reason for that is the honey that was used in the brewing process. The initial floral scent of the heather ale is only heightened by the honey. This beer actually smells like spring, it's sweet floral smell is nothing short of wonderful. The taste is equally as nice, this is a light drinkable ale. Unlike alot of other lighter ales though this one is loaded with flavor. The sweet taste of the honey sugar is perfect for the floral nature of the heather ale. Heather ales I've found to be slightly sweet anyway, the honey instead of becoming overpoweringly sweet, seems to instead be a wonderful helping hand to the heather flavor. Is it hoppy? No not at all, but then again this isn't that sort of beer. Think of it as a marriage of Fraoch Heather Ale, with Big Sky's Summer Honey ale. The alcohol level is 5.5%, nothing astronomical but high enough to let you know this brew has some flavor over say your usual blonde ale. So far I've liked a lot of what these breweries in the Yakima Valley have been cranking out. Yakima Craft Brewing is another stellar brewery with a wonderful beer. So if you want a light ale to make this dreary winter seem a little sunnier this is a great place to start. I've only found this kind at 99 Bottles so far, but I'm sure more markets are sure to come, enjoy!