Many thanks to Marc for this bottle. Smooth malty, easy to drink with a nice caramely back. Very nice and fruity ending.

330ml bottle. Minimally milky, pink-ish golden colour with average to huge, frothy, slowly osteoporosing, minimally lacing, white head. Minimally artificial, unspecific fruity aroma, hints of yellow apple, cranberry, lingonberry; pure overtones in a way, no background nor basis, a metallic layer at the most. Taste is sweet fruity, minimally yeasty spicy, rather unspecific, minimally artificial fruitiness; overcarbonated

Trying to create more variation and better quality in low and non-alcoholic beers is all the new hype now in the Low Countries and even conservative family brewers like Roman are now trying to cash in on this - to me still rather pointless - trend. This Ramon (nice play on 'Roman') is apparently a completely new creation so not a simple reprisal of their old Alfri, which I assume is no longer produced. Can from Bierhalle Deconinck, with very ugly but recognizable print. Thin but stable, snow white, disparately lacing head, thin and 'interrupted' veil in the middle; hazy pale straw blonde robe with greenish tinge, loose but lively bubbles here and there perturbing the haze, which seems to consist of a diffuse suspension of yeast bits - in all, a bit of a witbier look, and indeed the recipe contains wheat, albeit malted rather than raw. Weird aroma of spoiled leek soup, withering lemonbalm, freshly cut green apple, old limes, white bread dough, gypsum, green banana, stewing white cabbage and other overcooked vegetables, soap, rotting cut flower hint. Crisp onset, lively carb but nowhere too harsh, adding refreshing minerally effects; some basic green apple, unripe pear and banana peel fruitiness, but more sweetishness comes from the graininess underneath. Slick, notably 'wheaty' middle, sourish and soapy, almost like a witbier in a thinner, somewhat diluted version; ongoing green banana and green apple aspects, towards a rather 'weedy' finish reminiscent of leek soup and withered cut flowers with a vague oniony touch, adding some herbal and grassy bitterness - more so than I typically associate with industrial or semi-industrial non-alcoholic beers, and basically saving the day, albeit in a not too elegant way as far as I'm concerned. Lots and lots of soapy and gypsum-like effects in the finish too, too much for me to enjoy really. I can see how everyone gets all enthusiastic about this: it is, admittedly, an unexpected and quite distinct offering considering where it comes from, but then note that the can importantly mentions produced under the responsibility of Roman rather than brewed by Roman... I wonder who is really - technically - behind this, but in any case, it sure differs a lot from the old school non-alcoholic lagers that simply tried to mimic bland standard lager. This ones seems to mimic modern wheat ale or even white IPA, but does so in a not very attractive way, with spoiled green plants and obtrusive minerals all over the place. Not my cup of tea - so far, only VandeStreek's Playground managed to sincerely convince me that non-alcoholic (or nearly) has a future in beer. I could not care less about this Ramon, Halve Maan's Sportzot or other attempts, sorry - there are doubtlessly many other non-beery alternatives to enjoy as a beverage if you want to avoid alcohol.

The beer is okay, but for the style I think it lacks the belgian bubblegum yeast flavours. online beerwulf bottle

330ml bottle. Dark brown colour with ruby glimmer and average to huge, thick, frothy to creamy, moderately lasting, minimally lacing, off-white head. Yeasty fruity aroma, hints of cherry, morello, plum, minimally nutty, dark malty aroma. Taste is slightly yeasty fruity, minimally nutty dark malty, diluted hints of cherry and plum, minimally metallic finish.

330ml bottle. Barely clear, brass colour with average, frothy, moderately lasting, minimally lacing, white head. Biscuity malty and yeasty fruity aroma, hints of apricot, mirabelle, a touch of speculoos, shortbread. Taste is sweet-ish pale malty, slightly yeasty fruity, hints of apricot and mirabelle, a touch of shortbread, speculoos and corresponding, cautious spiciness. Nice.