Heather Ale

From the bonny bells of heather,
They brewed a drink longsyne,
Was sweeter far than honey,
Was stronger far than wine.
-Robert Louis Stevenson

Heather, hops, barm, syrup, ginger, water. Crop the heather when it is in full bloom, enough to fill a large pot. Fill the pot, cover the croppings with water, set to boil, and boil for one hour. Strain into a clean tub. Measure the liquid, and for every dozen bottles add one ounce of ground ginger, half an ounce of hops, and one pound of golden syrup. Set to boil again and boil for twenty minutes. Strain into a clean cask. Let it stand until milk-warm, then add a teacupfu! of good barm. Cover with a coarse cloth and let it stand till next day. Skim carefully and pour the liquor gently into a tub so that the barm may be left at the bottom of the cask. Bottle and cork tightly. The ale will be ready for use in two or three days. This makes a very refreshing and wholesome drink, as there is a good deal of spirit in heather.

In Islay, in the eighteenth century, Pennant tells us, ale was frequently made of the young tops of heath, mixed with about a third part of malt and a few hops. " This liquor, it appears from Boethius, was first used among the Picts, but when they were extirpated by the Scots, the secret of preparing it perished with them."

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