I have liked the ales I have had from Wachusett Brewing out of Westminster in central Massachusetts: the winter, their IPA , the summer seasonal and the brown - I like that picture of the brown.

When I last tried this, there was a malty note that I knew I knew from somewhere but I could not put my finger on it. The I started thinking about the name Country Ale and I was wondering what this beer really was. The brewer calls it a light pale ale with a sweet finish and the BAers, 96% of whom approve, call it an APA. But that note a nod to funk that I have only met with biere de garde, especially the blondes from Ch'ti or La Choulette. It is there again this time. Less body than a BdG but malteser malty with notes of pear, cherry and date in an orange amber ale under a fine rim and froth white head. A light black tea astringency cuts a bit but this is a pretty sweet take on a pale ale - which definitely places this far nearer a blonde from the French-Belgian border than an Anglo-Saxon pale ale of either side of the Atlantic.