HEATHER ALE. 



In the Highlands, it is an almost invariable practice 

 when brewing to put a quantity of the green tops of 

 heath in the wash tub, and when the plant is in 

 bloom it adds much to the strength and flavor of the 

 beer. The roots also will improve its qualities, for 

 they are of a licorice sweetness, but their astringency 

 requires them to be used with caution. 



"Herb ale was a favorite 'brewst' with the women 

 of olden time. An ancient matron whose grand- 

 mother had often made it has often descanted to me 

 on its excellence, also that those who drank heartily 

 of it became speckled in the face like a salmon. Though 

 only a child when this was observed, she could not 

 say what were the ingredients, but as her ancestors 

 were natives of Buchan, where the descendants of 

 the ancient Picts, according to Pinkerton, are to be 

 found, the secret was not perhaps entirely lost." 



Sowerby is of opinion that perhaps the tales of 

 their Heath ale may have originated in some poetical 

 allusion of the Celtic or Saxon bards to the mead 

 fermented from the Heath-gathered honey, which 

 gave its peculiar flavor to the beverage, which may 

 have, likewise, the tops of the plant infused in it. 



Mr. Martin, a native of Skye, and a staunch 

 advocate of Highland virtues, says a writer in "Corn- 

 hill," made a tour through the Hebrides and out as 

 far as St. Kilda shortly after the Revolution. He 

 found various kinds of whiskey. There was the ordi- 

 nary usquebaugh, which the well seasoned Hebrideans 

 could drink in large quantities without much apparent 

 harm ; there was a very fiery spirit called freslerig, or 

 whiskey three times distilled, and much stronger than 



96 



