I ordered a pound of heather from wild weeds online. Made two beers that turned out extremely well. The first was in the vein of Fraoch; just 10 pounds of 2 row, six ounces of amber malt, 1/2 oz of Tettnanger at 60 minutes and then 2 oz each heather at 30, 10 and flameout. Fermented with Scottish Ale yeast. This beer was really good. It was interesting how the lack of hop flavor changed my perception of the malt, even with plain ol' American 2 row. It was so good that I am thinking of making it a permanent addition to my lineup. The other beer used the yeast cake from the first and was a slightly "noble hopped up" Scottish ale in which I added equal amounts heather for each hop charge. It also came out really nice. Heather lends a certain dryness and liveliness to the mouthfeel which keeps these more malt forward styles from cloying. Anyone else have any heather recipes? PS - if anyone hasn't been there wildweeds (http://www.wildweeds.com/index.html) is an excellent source for all sorts of strange medieval brewing fun.
I created a recipe for a heather ale a month or so ago, but I haven't brewed it yet. I really wish I could get my hands on some fresh, or grow some myself...unfortunately MN isn't in the correct hardiness zone. Glad you've had some good luck with it.
