Stroom's contribution to the new league of non- (or low-) alcoholic IPAs, making use of the undermodified 'chit' malt and hopped with Belgian grown Cascade and Idaho 7. Like many up-market NABLABs these days, it was fermented with a yeast strain (branded "Lona" by its creators) that produces only a very limited amount of alcohol in the process. Thematically, this Soigneur honours the caretakers working in cycle racing, a very popular sport in Belgium; in one go, it also honours comic book author Marc Sleen, whose "Nero" adventures I basically grew up with - and in reading the accompanying text, I think they quite nailed Sleen's importance in that field, even though I never looked at his work that way because it was too close and familiar for me, if you get my drift. Anyway, I digress: on to the beer. Snow white, medium thick, tiny-bubbled head lacing in 'rings' over a near clear, pale yellow-straw blonde robe with visible sparkling. Aroma of green banana, children's medicine or generic soluble tablets, industrial lemon juice from a plastic bottle, fresh chervil, white hand soap, young grass in spring, green plum peel, industrial and pre-cut white bread slices, wet bird seed. Sweetish onset with vague sourish accent, low in esteriness and quite (pale) lager-like in that respect, touch of green banana perhaps but nothing more; lively carb, minerally, through a rounded mouthfeel, admittedly feeling 'thicker' than one would expect at this ABV. Smooth but also somewhat annoyingly glueish grainy core, sweetish like the sweetishness of an Asian style macro lager probably due to that 'chit', increasingly yet softly hopped by the Cascade more than the Idaho 7. A certain bittering 'grapefruitiness' is established in the ending phase, making for a dry, zesty ending, but there are also these soapy and chalky flavours at the back - overshadowed by the bitter aspect of the hops, perhaps, but still persisting way after that. This is the one thing that has bothered me in so many NABLABs and it also bothers me here. We are far removed from that 'perfect imposter', VandeStreek's Playground IPA, and it should be noted that Belgium is now teeming with NABLABs outcompeting each other in trying to imitate 'real' beer as closely as possible, so competition is stiff to say the least. In its defense, though, this is certainly not the worst example of a nearly non-alcoholic IPA - it still has a certain 'real' IPA feel to it, even more so than some alcoholic Belgian attempts at postmodern IPA in general. Have a point for that.