The follow-up to that miserable Cherry Chouffe, launched a year ago seemingly in an attempt to compete with Kasteel Rubus Framboise - which makes things even more miserable in my opinion. Steinie bottle with the familiar gnome on the crown cap, bought months ago at a Delhaize supermarket - only now I find the courage to open it. Thick and frothy, pale yellowish beige, busily 'kant'-like lacing, firm head on a crystal clear, warm copper red robe with fiery orangey-glowing tinge. Aroma of red Haribo candy, grenadine, melting granulated sugar, artificial raspberry essence (as in raspberry candy rather than raspberry jam, for instance), candy apple, natural rubber, fresh rainwater, damp (processed) wool - but close to nothing 'beery', even less so than in Cherry Chouffe if my memory serves me right. Very sweet onset, lots of 'bubblegumminess' and banana, and lots of red candy sugariness sticking to the teeth, drenched in this artificial raspberry 'poepkens' flavour. Generic red or purple 'fruit' candy dominates the rest, sticky and sugary but still with a tad of lemonade-like ascorbic sourishness for balance, though not for any natural flavour; a bready maltiness can very thinly be felt underneath, but hops are almost completely buried under this artificial raspberry aroma and sugariness. Just like Van Honsebrouck's Rubus, launched two years before this one, was another variant on the generic 'rouge' theme (marketing-wise a clever one too, I must admit), this is nothing but Cherry Chouffe with a slightly altered flavour - but who cares if this one smells more like artificial raspberry aromas than artificial cherry aromas if no natural aroma of fruit is there? Bereft of all things beery, this 'rouge' hype is one I hate with a passion - why did I even bother buying this in the first place...