English style session ale by Boxing Hare, a young microbrewery in the vicinity of La Roche Chalais in the French Dordogne region, which apparently wasn’t even present on this site yet; this brewery is operated by English expats and specializes in traditional English style real ales, rather than opting for the American style craft beers that have conquered the world in the past years – a rather unlikely choice, but all the more interesting as far as I am concerned. Big cheers to Siska D’Hauwer – one of my girlfriend’s two lovely daughters – for the bottle! Medium thick, pale greyish-white, mousy, slowly opening head on a clear, deep copper-coloured beer with a ‘nutty-brownish’ tinge to it, turning misty with sediment. Aroma of dried thyme and even peppermint leaves, green walnut, lightly toasted bread, rusk, lavender soap somewhere but subtly so, old pecan nuts, dry autumn leaves, old dry tea bags, nutmeg. Cleanly fruity onset, some vague apple peel and dried apricot notes but very subdued in both sweetness and esteriness, softish in carbonated but with pleasant and structurally important minerally side accents. Smooth, bit oily body, not betraying its humble ABV; mildly toasty malt core, bread crust, walnut skin and caramel but the latter without the sweetness. Ends herbal and bit rooty, with a long-lingering hoppiness reminiscent of dried lavender, thyme and dark green tea; the bitterness of the hops nicely connects and blends with the toasted bitterness from the malts. This is an unexpectedly interesting tick indeed: if I hadn’t known it was brewed in France, I would have identified it as a bottled ‘old style’ English bitter. Among the most convincingly traditional-English style beers that isn’t actually made in England, even if it is by an English brewer (a Mr. Norman Atkinson) – and I love a good old-fashioned English bitter!