Beer Review: Tilburg's Dutch Brown Ale Berkel-Enschot, Netherlands By: Geoff Bergey January 1, 2005

(Amsterdam, Netherlands) - If scoring this beer on packaging alone, this beer gets a solid 5. Its electric mustard orange all around, with the wonderful panel from "The Garden of Earthly Delights" as its centerpiece (on display at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain). I enjoy art, but truthfully I'm not too educated in the art department; but this is one cool painting. It is some type of a man-bird sitting in a horseshoe shaped chair, eating the lower torso of a homo sapien which has 2 crows taking flight out its arse whilst wearing a black kettle as a hat.

This masterpiece is by the Dutch painter, Hieronymus Bosch, who lived by the brewery which is located in a small village called Tilburg in the Brabant province of Holland. We attempted to locate this area on our maps to land nearby, but were unable to locate it.

Pouring right along, Tilburg's Dutch Brown Ale is a dark amber color as the name suggests, no surprise there. It has a mild head which quickly dissipated to leave a thin foamy top which follows it down. This is not a complex beer, just smooth, mild and semisweet with very little carbonation and an average ABV at 5%.

If you enjoy Newcastle Brown Ale, Tilburg's Dutch Brown Ale is similar with some subtle differences that I can taste, but not readily identify. Other reviews I have read made mention to caramel, fruit nuts, grapes, raisins, plums, maple, and brown sugar... you be the judge. Whatever it is, it is an excellent beer with no trace of hops -- which means your girlfriend may love it, in fact she may love it so much that each time you replace the 6-pack that you were going to review, most of the beers will be missing again by the time you get to it. In my case, the beer review came from the 5th six pack that was purchased on a night when she is still at work! HA!

Overall, this is an fantastic beer. Its taste not overly complex, semisweet and just plain enjoyable. The 5% ABV means you can enjoy a few and get a nice buzz, but still function normally and perhaps even fly a plane across Europe.

For more information on Tilburg's Dutch Brown Ale, visit their website at www.tdba.nl