The new follow-up (and replacement) to Chouffe 0.4%, which was apparently only a 'stepping stone' to this new 0.0% version, even though by legal standards the 0.4% already qualified as an alcohol-free beer... I wonder how they moved from very little alcohol (the result of a fermentation with a special yeast strain) to no alcohol at all, was the last drop of alcohol removed by good old vacuum destillation or did they use a new non-alcoholic yeast strain? Off-white, fine mesh-lacing, medium thick, regular and stable head on a crystal clear, deep and pure 'old golden' robe with even a very light amberish tinge, and fine-bubbled sparkling in the middle. Aroma of white chewing gum, plaster, apple peel, cold pasta, coriander seed, old wallpaper paste, burnt paper or burnt matches (oddly - probably linked to pasteurisation), rubber tyres (dito), sulfur. Sweetish onset, very clean and sleek, plaster-like with hints of green banana and apple peel, finely tingling but very active carbonation with minerally background effect through a very slick body with almost wallpaper paste- or glue-like side effects - even something vaguely tooth paste-like. Quite neutral at first, a bitterishness develops in the end, from hops and possibly coriander but only vaguely so, yet still lingering a bit in the finish, as do these glue-, sulfur- and plaster-like effects. I was not the greatest fan of La Chouffe in its original form (though at that time it admittedly still had a bit of its own personality), have seen it decline even further after Moortgat took over in 2008 and then further when first a "light" version appeared and then that 0.4% version - an evolutionary path downwards ending with this even less appealing 0.0%. Tastes like a non-alcoholic pale lager of twenty years ago, too... Refreshing alright, but so is mineral water. One of their products may even be worse and that is the also new non-alcoholic version of that awful Cherry Chouffe I still have to taste - and surely a non-alcoholic version of its raspberry brother is in the making too. The decline of this brand is a sad thing to establish - why not bend the curve and create an upscale specialty version in 75 cl bottles, for example a barrel aged N'Ice Chouffe or something alike?

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...