Pecheresse 0,0%

Lindemans Pêcheresse has been around for decades and I guess it can be regarded as 'influential' and 'iconic' when it comes to sweetened artificial fruit beers - it is certainly the archetype of 'pêche' (peach-flavoured lambic), as a whole fortunately eclipsed by traditionally made peach lambics meanwhile, some of which are true gems. Not Pêcheresse, though - I vividly recall how much I hated it when I first had a taste of it two and a half decades ago - so my expectations for this new non-alcoholic version of it are low to say the least. Snow white, irregular but stable, finely 'kant'-like lacing head on a crystal clear, pale brass-coloured blonde robe with fine strings of sparkling. Aroma of peach candy and industrial peach jam, granulated sugar, bubblegum, something (industrial) apple juice-like, soggy white bread note, Napoleon candy (not brandy), whipped cream. Sugary sweet throughout, with an artificial peach flavour upfront, also reminiscent of artificial apple (and even banana) flavouring - almost tasting more like Minute Maid Apple than Minute Maid Peach Punch, oddly; fine minerally sparkle, slender body, a waferthin layer of wheaty malts perhaps but buried under sugariness and this artificial fruit extract. Goes down like a sparkling apple or peach juice of industrial signature with nothing even remotely connected to lambic, despite the brewery's claim that its production method was "lambic-inspired" - probably meaning that not a drop of Lindemans' fine lambic even came near this children's lemonade. Kind of what I expected but even sweeter - only tolerable when chilled to near freezing temperatures and consumed like a soda pop, which it basically is despite it containing malt. "Beer" is even further away here than in other sweet Lindemans fruited products.