Heather and Honey Scottish Export Ale

As seen on my blog, Bunker Brewing:


Heather and Honey Scottish Export (80 Shilling)

OG: 1.065
FG: 1.013
ABV: 6.8%

Fermentables
-9.5 lbs Briess 2-row
-0.5 lb Briess Munich 10L
-0.5 lb Gambrinus Honey Malt
-0.25 lb Crisp Pale Chocolate
-0.25 lbs Briess Caramel 120
-1 lb Briess Caramel 40
-1 lb honey (added at end of boil)


Hops
-0.8 oz Northern Brewer 8.8%AA 60 min


Yeast
-11.5g Safale S-05


Others
-Dried Heather tips, 0.5 oz additions at 30, 15, 5 minutes, and in the fermenter.


For those of you who've been following the bunker, this next part should seem pretty straightforward.


We struck the grains with 3.75 gallons of 172.4F water to reach a mash temperature of 158F. Mashed for 60 minutes, then sparged our grains with 2.5 gallons of 175F water for 20 minutes. After combining the first runnings with the sparge, we boiled for 60 minutes, with the single bittering hop addition. However, halfway into the boil it was heather time! This stuff smells so gloriously honeyish and aromatic! Additions at 30, 15, 5 minutes, and "dry-heathering" lent this brew an amazing complimentary taste to the already sultry Scottish Export flavor.


Primed with 2.1 oz corn sugar for 1.75 volumes of CO2.


Definitely one we'll be repeating!


-Myles

Sounds great, I've been wanting to brew something with heather for awhile. I think I might go with a lighter base though, maybe a Berliner Weisse or something else with a bit of sourness.

Looks like a cool recipe to try... what does heather taste like tho' compared to hops?

fastricky said:

Looks like a cool recipe to try... what does heather taste like tho' compared to hops?

Click to expand...

I did a heather ale a few months ago that has a floral/ginger/honey aroma, really complex and interesting (but pretty much nothing like hops).

Thanks! Do you think it would work well in the above recipe?

I think the above recipe could certainly work although I took a completely different approach. I did a slightly sour pale base and added a heather tea (and a touch of lavender) to the bottling bucket. In my case I was counting on a dry finish and sourness to balance the malt sweetness, in this case you'll need some bitterness from the heather which should be extracted in the boil (although how much I don't know).