Alba

Now if I HAD been reading correctly (a skill vastly overrated for a linguist *cough*) I would have read that the boxed set I bought holds 4 of the 5 mentioned beers... so I am missing the Grozet as apparently it depends what season it is for them to decide what they micro brew.

Alba Scots Pine Ale
330ml 7,5%

Going in my list from "weird" to "I expect much", I'm tackling Alba today which identifies itself as Strong Pine Ale. Now Pine is something I expect in the bathroom as an after ... you know what .. spray or as an addition to Sauna but not in beer... But as I am going beyond my borders for you dear readers, we shall embark on this strange journey together. As the nice leaflet tells me to drink it as an after dinner beer from a wine goblet I shall embark to do exactly that.. or as close as I can get. I got the Widmer Brothers glass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widmer_Brothers) from the US when I visited a friend in Asheville North Carolina (The beer capital of the US as I was told). There was an offer in an awesome beer place there (http://www.monkpub.com/) which gave me the glass as an extra. Anyways, dinner is over, I am full and I shall focus on this Triple now. I do expect a somewhat resinous taste but let's see. Like Kelpie before, I do like the label, they do put effort in their labels.
Which again I should have read...... as I NOW see that it should be drunk at room temperature ... and me being an idiot of course left it outside to chill...gnnnn. The slightly creamy foam dissipates relatively quickly and leaves a small amount of big bubbles on the surface... color wise this is lighter and redder than the picture suggests. A bright light red to orange and not too cloudy. I'm seriously angry at myself now that I chilled this...
It smells salty and fruity at once and I can't decide whether I like it or not. Slight raspberry tones in it, covering the slight yeast aspects.

As it is already chilled I shall give it a try in this state now. This is da awesomeness.... the strong tripel taste mixes with raspberry fruit tones and a pleasant bitterness that's filling the whole mouth and not only the back of the palate. The bitterness and the fruity tones balance each other perfectly and I easily put this in my top 10 list of things I ever drank. I don't know where they take the fruity tones from but it reminds me a bit of a lambic mixed with a tripel. Seriously superb! Wonder what it would have been when not chilled... guess I have to buy more MUAHAHAHAH.
DMW