Just to show you how far back I am on my  blogging, I’m going to post something from The Session of September 2007, “Brew Zoo”. Am I allowed to do this? Sure I am…

Lyke 2 Drink came up with a great topic, “Brew Zoo”, noting that many beer labels out there have animals and pets portayed on them. I mean, if there is one sure way to sell something, put a picture of a cute dog on it. Unfortunately, the label tells you almost nothing about how good the beer is going to taste. The best beer label may be the worst beer, or, you may luck out.

I really had no idea what to expect from this brown ale that my wife likes. Tilburg’s Dutch Brown Ale, brewed by Bierbrouwerij De Koningshoeven, has the strangest “zoo” label I have ever seen. It is akin to something you would see in an animated cutscene in Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

What the hell is that?

That is a bird, eating a naked man, with crows flying out of his ass. Consequently, we have come to refer to Tilburg’s Dutch Brown Ale as “bird butt beer”.

A little research shows that the label is based on Hieronymus Bosch’s painting “The Garden of Earthly Delights”. This Netherlander painter of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries based many of his works on depicting sin and human failing. Bosch used images of demons, half-human animals and machines to evoke fear and confusion to portray the evil of man. (This substantiates my expletive above and makes it apropos.)

I wonder what Tilburg is trying to say about their beer with this label. More so, I wonder why my wife is attracted to this beer so much.

The beer itself is Belgian Dark Ale, lightly malty, crisp and some interesting (and odd) bitter tea-like flavors. It is a bit thin for myself, but my wife likes it, though it is not her favorite brown.