Bottle @ Qvarteret (test tasting). Unclear orange/red/ body under a foamy pink head. Aroma has cherry, fruit candy and some marzipan. Taste is sweet with some balancing acidity, but still a bit too sweet IMO. The cherry and marzipan from the aroma also remain in the taste but the candy part tastes more in the direction of cherry syrup. Balanced body with the same fruity and slightly artificial aftertaste. It’s a drinkable beer, but I find it too sweet and artificial to make a repeat purchase of this.

Bottle from HoTM. It pours hazy deep cherry red with a thick and fluffy pink head. The aroma is sweet and perfumed, artificial cherry, candy, cherry drops/tunes, brown bread, jam, touch of caramel and boozy cherry liqueur. The taste is crisp, tart and tangy, then sweetens up, cherry candy, cherry drops, slightly medicinal character, touch of acidity, cherry cola, sticky, warming alcohol and damp grain with a drying, fruity finale. Medium body and high, foamy carbonation. The tanginess just about saves it. Feels a bit too artificial/candy-like and less so a beer. I am glad for the abv to try and battle against the sweetness. I drank the bottle, but wouldn't come back for another.

This brewery has behaved very ‘commercial’ from the start, achieved its goal and is now present in many a supermarket in Flanders, which makes it perfectly logical for them to try and cash in on that annoying ‘rouge’ hype, I suppose… Steinie bottle from the Delhaize in Lokeren. Thick and foamy, membrane-lacing, pale pinkish-beige, moussey head over a misty vermillion red robe with brownish-tinged burgundy hue. Aroma dominated by red Haribo candy (the expected ‘poepegatjes’), Fanta Red, cough syrup, Fruitella strawberry candy, candy apple, but also bread pulp, cream, rhubarb compote and vague ‘kersenvlaai’. Unsurprisingly very sweet, grenadine-like onset, syrupy with a ton of red candyfloss – but perhaps just a tad less sticky than average for the genre; hints of ripe pear, strawberry and sweet cherry seem more ‘real’ here than in other rouges I had to endure. Medium carb, slick mouthfeel; a thin trace of malty breadiness can be felt under all that red candy flavouring and syrupy sugar, with even vague and volatile echoes of caramel or Ersatz chocolate fleetingly passing by for a fraction of a second. Sugar and red candy remain completely dominant, of course, with a cloying finish more reminiscent of lemonade than beer, but topped with some gently warming alcohol. Hops remain all but indistinguishable. Typical ‘standard’ rouge, adding nothing to this irritating hype – of the traditional Belgian brands, only Het Anker did a very interesting attempt at breaking open the standard of this ‘rouge’ style with their latest Indulgence to date – but somehow, this particular one has retained a few superficial ‘beery’ features which in other rouges are as good as absent. For this reason alone I will score it a little bit higher than average for a rouge.

Bottle from Beers of Europe. Pours hazy red with a pink-tinged head. Aromas of charry and almond. Taste adds some peppery spice. Sweet finish.

Ruby colour, moderate sized creamy pinkish off-white head; aroma of cherry and very intensive marzipan; taste is the same with some syrupy and also hoppy bittery notes; really good one

Bottle, 8%. Ripe cherry aroma, a bit overpowering. Red colour, slightly hazy. Good stable light pink head. The flavour is acidic, peppery, sweet with cherry syrup notes.

Appearance is deep cherry red, with a foamy pink head. Aroma is lots of cherry, Bakewell tart, marzipan, malt, berry fruit. Taste is lots of sweet cherry, Bakewell tart, berry fruit, fruit juice and almond, more cherry, malty background.

Actually quite nice for a super fruit beer. Very small sourness. Really enjoyable for what it is. Bierkonig ams

33cl bottle from Abeervinum, Rimini, Italy. Now named Guilty Rouge. Pours full red, partially transparent, with fine publish foam. Aroma is intense of cherry syrup. Body is average, with moderate carbonation. Taste is gently sour, with a generous dose of sweetness. Only partially tart. Final is average. Overall, a disappointment, I expected more.