In celebrations of 25 years brewing our flagship brand "Fraoch", we have collaborated with Black Hearted Press – Scotland’s leading independent comic book publisher, on a beer-themed comic based on a poem originally written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1890.

Stevenson's ‘Heather Ale’ is the ballad of a mysterious beer that was brewed by the Picts, an ancient tribe that inhabited Scotland during the Iron Age. When the King of Scots invades, he sets his sights on conquering the Picts and capturing their fabled Heather Ale in the process. But following a brutal massacre and an unexpected betrayal, the recipe for Heather Ale is lost forever.

"The Heather Ale" is the first time a Stevenson poem has been transformed into a comic book but It’s not the first time that Heather Ale has inspired creativity. First brewed 25 years ago, our own heather ale "Fraoch" is a recreation of the long lost recipe. Fraoch is considered Scotland’s oldest and original craft beer.

Mark Boyle (Operations Director at Black Hearted Press) explained more about the collaboration:

“We thought – to celebrate our biggest Comic Con yet – let’s translate the work of a famous Scottish writer into comic book format. Scott Williams explained the story of The Heather Ale and everything fell into place; as a story, it has just the right amount of intrigue and action for a comic book!... Now visitors to the Comic Con can look forward to a glass of Froach, while reading the story that inspired it. It will make for quite the pairing.”

Described in Stevenson’s poem as ‘sweeter than honey, stronger than wine’, Fraoch stays true to the long forgotten recipe by using a sweet blend of heather and bog-myrtle and brewed to a palatable 5% ABV.

Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, Fraoch and The Heather Ale comic collaboration is the first in a series of events that will honour Scotland’s oldest craft beer.

Working with BAFTA nominated screenwriter Jack Lothian (Skins, Shameless, Ashes to Ashes) and illustrator Alan Brown (Ben 10, Hello Kitty, Viz), Black Hearted Press will print limited edition copies of The Heather Ale, available to buy at the 2014 Glasgow Comic Con.

Glasgow Comic Con

5th & 6th July 2014
CCA / The Art School / The Renfield Centre

MORE INFO: http://gccon.wordpress.com