TWO HISTORICAL FALLACIES : HEATHER BEER AND UISGE BEITHE. 19* 



had no sweet taste, nor was thick in the mouth, nor indeed had it any special taste 

 which one could be led to connect with the presence in it of heather flowers. 



As we could not ferment a decoction of heather flowers, it seemed right to settle 

 whether a decoction of malt could be fermented with heather. Some malt wort had 

 heather flowers added to it and was carefully handled in the Boroughloch Brewery, in 

 hopes that a good result would be got. After six days there was no appearance of an 

 alcoholic fermentation, the heather blooms themselves were covered with a green mould 

 where they floated upon the top of the wort, and the smell was by no means pleasant, a 

 certain quantity of acetous fermentation being evidently present. After examining the 

 sample myself it was corked and kept in a warm place, but no alcoholic fermentation 

 took place. 



It is difficult to believe that anyone who has repeated these stories ever made even 

 a simple infusion of the flowers and tasted them. Such an infusion as strong as it can 

 be made smells of the heather tops, but its taste is slightly bitter, with what one might 

 describe as a leathery flavour ; it is not in the least degree sweet, as would be the case 

 if it contained any quantity at all of glucose. 



Having now proved that beer could not be made from heather alone, and that the 

 heather was not of itself a ferment, and regarding the recipes for heather ale which were 

 the results of practical experience, Mr Melvin and I came to the conclusion that it could 

 do nothing else, if it had any value at all, but act as a flavouring matter and preservative 

 like hops. Mr Melvin then made the following experiment : — 



Four gallons malt wort, sp. gr. 100, with four gallons of water, were boiled with 

 heather flowers, total quantity being 1\ lbs. The mixture was strained and the filtrate 

 boiled for another half hour. The fluid smelt strongly of heather, and had an agreeable 

 taste. It was now rapidly cooled to expose it as little as possible to air germs, and at a 

 temperature of 69° Fahr. was poured into a 6-gallon cask, the quantity being made up 

 to fill the cask of cooled boiled malt wort, and a pint of yeast well mixed into it. As 

 it worked, the cask was kept carefully filled so as to allow the yeast to work thoroughly 

 out of the beer. For the first twenty-four hours the fermentation was active and had 

 an agreeable smell. When the fermentation was complete, the heather beer produced 

 was bottled, and the result, though not perhaps adapted for exhibition, was a fairly 

 potable liquor, with a roughish woody flavour peculiar to itself, and no doubt the effect 

 of the heather which had been put into it. Before bottling, however, a sample was 

 taken of the yeast from the latter workings and microscopically examined. The yeast 

 cells were well defined, healthy, and vigorous-looking, but the field was decidedly 

 impure, bacteria being present in such alarming quantity, from a brewer's point of view, 

 that the beer's keeping quality was very doubtful. It was accepted that these bacteria 

 came chiefly from the heather, as the yeast used was a very pure sample. Mr Melvin 

 was of opinion that we had used too little heather for even such a small quantity as 

 6 gallons, and it was determined to make another brewing with fresh heather, guided 

 by the experience already gained. In the following year, then, this intention was 



