Alba Clone

Hey folks,

I am pondering the idea of an Alba clone. Truth is, I've never had Alba but it sounds really interesting.

Here is a description for those not familiar:

Introduced by the Vikings, spruce and pine ales were very popular in the Scottish Highlands until the end of the 19th century. Many early explorers, including Captain Cook, used spruce ale during long sea voyages since it prevented scurvy and ill health. Shetland spruce ale was said to "stimulate animal instincts" and give you twins. Alba is a triple style ale brewed to a traditional Highland recipe from Scots pine and spruce shoots pickled during early spring. Pure malted barley, is boiled with the young sprigs of pine for several hours then the fresh shoots of the spruce are added for a short infusion before fermentation.

Now ---- I have no idea where to start!!

The spruciness of this ale is understated and mild. It's more of a malty beer with a hint of resin-y pine-yness. I really like the beer, but if I were to make it, I might put a little spruce extract in it along with the spruce tips. I just wanted it a little sprucier. I think they put extract in it too, but I might be wrong.

SankePankey said:

The spruciness of this ale is understated and mild. It's more of a malty beer with a hint of resin-y pine-yness. I really like the beer, but if I were to make it, I might put a little spruce extract in it along with the spruce tips. I just wanted it a little sprucier. I think they put extract in it too, but I might be wrong.

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Do you think they are using hops as well as spruce/pine? I understand that traditionally the spruce was used in place of hops.

I don't know. From what I have read about spruce beers is that many people are using hops in the recipe as well. I think I remember seeing that Alba has hops as printed on the bottle. My only point was that I wanted the beer to be exactly what it was but just a little bit more sprucy.

I would imagine it would be hard to nail down an amount of spruce to add per recipe because that would be so variable. Maybe having essence as a backup in case the spruce started to act ugly.