After reading about Frosty’s “Stump Tart”, I went on a swilling run to Haggen and raided their beer stash.

I didn’t find any of the fruity Bridgeport swill in stock, but I did stumble across two nice surprises:

Fraoch Heather Ale - I expected horrible things to happen in my mouth when thinking about tasting this, but my love for Celtic culture made me ignore my misgivings.

It turns out that I was correct to not listen to my brain when selecting beers. This stuff is fantastic; even at $4.50 a bottle! It’s very well balanced and easy to drink. You can almost taste a little bit of the heather flowers this stuff is brewed with. So, if Frosty can go fruity, I can go flowery and call it a good day of swillage. The world takes all types, flavors, and colors.

Coopers Brewery Sparkling Ale - The sparkly name on this puppy (paying homage to Frosty’s shiny beer choice recently), and it’s decent single-bottle price tag made it worth a shot to try. Another blast over the outfield fence here.

It’s not quite as “clean” as the Fraoch stuff, but it’s still infinitely drinkable and tasty. It’s got a little bit of yeasty funkiness, but it works well in a beer this clean tasting. It’s Australian even.

My two forays into the world of other-worldly, or other-country-ly, beers was a distinct success and renewed my faith that there are still great, if previously unknown, beers to try on the shelf at your favorite swill emporium. Both worked well with the smoked salmon spread on crackers that the wife and I had for a late-night TV viewing snackfest. Both even tasted good with the apples & caramel dip wehad for dessert.

If you had to choose only one of these two beers as your choice for a dying wish beer, go for the Fraoch Heather Ale! You’ll die with a foamy, Heathery smile on your face, even having never been with Heather Graham before your demise.

This Swill Jockey was glad to have hopped in the beer saddle last night. Two solid 5s here.