Le Butts
Butts Brewery Ltd.

Tried this bottle-conditioned beer on 30/04/05, with a best before date of October 05 and it was served chilled in a goblet. The beer, according to the brewer's information, is a "French Style Lager", using only organic ingredients. As I am not experienced enough to identify the special characteristics of a "French style" lager, I was all the more interested to try this French lager brewed by an English brewery.

Appearance: it pours clear golden to honey-drink colour, with a foamy and even creamy white beerhead; extremely limited carbonation for a lager, but just beautiful...
Smell: it smells of flowery, honeyish scent, with a bit of sugary nose as well, suggesting a lively, malty body of an ale, like that of a light Belgian blonde bier.
Taste & Aftertaste: Surprise, surprise! Contrary to my expectation, it comes with the kind of hoppyness akin to some English summer ales, only more delicate; the aftertaste is very dry, clean, even crisp, and bitter! The body is definitely heavier than a "lager" suggests, but it is very refreshing with good structure and depth as well.
Drinkability: The beer is an interesting hybrid of characteristics of ale and lager, and one is never enough for sure.