brew dog blog

Living in New York is, put as lightly as I can, a total motherfucker.  The stress, the noise, the overcrowding, the long train rides to work, everything attacks you at once sometimes, making it hard to see how beautiful life truly is.  Even in the beer world, we’re hardly spared — on the Sunnier Coast, plenty of unreal brew flows that we can’t get, and the Midwest’s finest products are hushed away and judiciously kept from our rabid lips.  Not to say we aren’t fortunate in some respects.  The food is hard to beat, the people are mindblowing, and there’s plenty of great local beer.  The Mid-Atlantic is doing well, and we’re not far from PA where a lot of beers make it that don’t make it here.  And, of course, we’re closer to the Motherlands (Germany, Belgium, etc.) than anyone else in the states, more or less.

I’m quite happy to report that life here just got a bit easier, thanks to the genius of 12 Percent Imports, a dedicated and local beer importer who has amazingly wrangled more than a dozen new Belgian beers into distribution deals which bring them exactly as far as…Brooklyn, New York, where I live, and where they are only currently available, to my knowledge, at one shop, and one bar.  Say what you will about the exclusivity, price, or mechanics of this operation, but they are bringing in a range of brews so mindblowing that even though I’ve consumed 8 or 9 of them so far (in the two or three weeks they’ve been available), I’ve only managed to cajole myself into writing about this one.  These beers require a lot of attention and consideration, and I should actually apply the “Life is Beautiful” tag to the whole damned operation.  Shortly enough, I’ll be conducting an interview with the main importer, and we’ll get a chance then to talk about the beers more specifically.

Until then, I’d like to mention the beer that was the original inspiration behind the whole operation — ‘t Gaverhopke’s Extra.  A 12% beer produced in frighetningly small quantities in a West Flanders brewpub, this beer could be considered a “quad” or a “Trappist style” dark strong ale.  It pours a beautiful, turbid brown with a beautiful head and an insane amount of complexity in the nose.  I recently broke my favorite tulip glass and decided to pour this into an oversized Cabernet wine glass I had, which was an unintentionally inspired choice, as this is one of the most “winey” beers I’ve had in a long time.  It may have a lot to do with the high alcohol content, which is hardly hidden from the nose when you first start dealing with this gigantic beer.  It smells like a mythical glass of dark wine, maybe the sinister twin to some leathery red you’ve had, or the evil counterpart to a fruitier, dryer white wine.  The mouthfeel and carbonation level are perfect — balanced with the right amount of sweetness and thick body with moderate bubbles to keep it sippable.  There are sour, chocolate, and dried fruits in the palate, and all together, this beer is just plain magic.  I’m hoping to buy some extra Extra and keep it around, as I have a feeling it will age well, if I can manage to hold onto it.  Extra (or “12″) is a beautifully balanced beer for its strength, and it gives you a peak inside the Abbey walls without having to bootleg some Westy or settle for something handled without the care that 12 Percent is putting into its operation.  Amen to 12% and Amen to Gaverhopke — welcome to New York City!