Notes from August, 2004...
An obligatory comment about the label: what the hell?
The people of Tilburg are obviously very proud, and justly so, of the artistic tradition of Holland, but I've got to say it takes guts to shush aside Rembrandt or Vermeer, and instead celebrate the painter of "the Garden of Earthly Delights" (Hieronymous Bosch) and isolate a particularly horrific "bird-headed, kettle-hatted monster in the midst of devouring a human, with birds flying out of his/her ass" picture to use as the central label image on, of all things, a beer label. Most bold, Koeningshoeven, most bold!
But, about the beer...
Clear, bright crimson color, dark and nearly brown, not quite, though, with a thick, rich, cocoa-colored, creamy head, very nice.
Aroma is sweet and nutty from the start, with big caramel notes, alert, lively, wide open and awake, ...so far, so good!
Taste: smooth, and slightly sweet, mild hops, lush malt, more caramel in the flavor, bright, fruity, with a significant character.
I was prepared to be disappointed, but I'm not. As a brown ale, this is above par, quite top of the notch. Tasty, medium bodied, with a long, lingering nutty, sweet finish.
As far as brown ales go, this one far surpasses many more famous versions.
Still scratching my head about that label image choice. Even "Christ Mocked" would be better!
3 comments:
I saw them play 2 songs: Odyssey and Asteroid. After that I made a choice and bailed, to go see YOB. I stand by my choice, YOB played a lot of material from The Unreal Never Lived, an album which I hold dear to my heart... they were simply great stuff! Incassobureau (3x)
The Gathering is really one of the very few bands I know who perform live as good as on record and sometimes even better. Consider the difficult vocals and this really becomes an incredible accomplishment. Incassobureau (3x)
I'm very sorry, but I do not know what you are talking about.
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