Beer Spot Review: Tørst

Tørst's bar - photo credit to NY Grub Street

How well-respected do you think you'd need to be to have one of the oldest, most famous, and well-regarded breweries in the world specially make a beer exclusively for you to purvey? To get an answer, you'd have to check in with Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø of Evil Twin and Ølbutikken fame. Since 2005, Brasserie Cantillon of Brussels has specially made Blåbær Lambik for Jeppe: he sends them blueberries, they incorporate them into a blended series of wild-fermented lambics that they ship back to him in Copenhagen, and he then sells them out of his world-renowned bottle-shop, Ølbutikken.

Up until a week ago, you couldn't buy Blåbær Lambik anywhere but Ølbutikken, which, given the plane tickets required to reach Denmark, made it a challenging value proposition for all but the most intrepid beer nerds.

Last Friday, the necessary journey got a lot shorter for New Yorkers with the opening of Jeppe and Daniel Burns' (of Momofuku and Noma fame) new beer bar, Tørst. Located in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, this sleekly decorated spot instantly attracted hordes of beer connoisseurs interested in trying not only the bottles of Blåbær Lambik that Jeppe brought along for sale, but also the dozens of other rare, obscure, and otherwise impossible to find brews that Jeppe had stocked from Evil Twin, Mikkeller, Beechwood BBQ, Cantillon, and more. 

When I arrived last Saturday, the entire bar was packed - tables and bar seats were all occupied, and the wait was three to four people deep at the bar. At any other bar, the 15 solid minutes of waiting required to actually put in an order would have been intolerable. Here, the beautifully spare sanded wood surfaces, attractive marble, and excellent lighting set-up all helped take the edge off. The main optical draw, though, was the backbar. White lettering on the mirror wall panels proclaimed the embarrassing slew of riches on tap, and oh, what taps they were! Uniform of shape, with wooden handles atop spotless silver nozzles, the taps dispensed their brews with the utmost precision. I found after a bit of reading later that the tap system permits the bartenders to control the precise temperature and carbonation of each beer on tap. The name of this control panel? The flux capacitor, of course.

The flux capacitor control panel - a beer perfectionists' best friend - credit to Sam Horine, Gothamist

After poring over the bar's consistently impressive minimalist design for awhile, I was ready to finally get to try a few of the beers on tap. Unfortunately, the backbar staff ignored me several times to attend to other customers who had arrived after I had. Obviously, opening weekend at a place that had received so much anticipatory hype was bound to be busy, and have correspondingly long waits. However, it would still have been better to at least have the staff acknowledge the wait - other quality beer bars around town such as Blind Tiger are great in this respect. The next time I visit Tørst I'm sure that the staff will have ironed out the opening week process flow issues at the bar, but at the time of my first visit, the ordering process was somewhat irksome.

This minor quibble aside, the beer part of the visit was nothing short of excellent. I started with Cantillon's Gueuze (5% ABV). A Gueuze is a blended beer composed of several different Lambic batches, meaning it falls under the over-arching Sour category. I was eager to finally get to try one of Cantillon's beers for the first time ever, especially given that this particular one from had come very well-regarded. In the glass, the beer's color was orange to murky copper. A touch of lemon zest, yeast, and straw funk came to the nose on first sniff, though the aromas weren't particularly expansive. Upon sipping, it revealed itself to have a very light mouthfeel, though holding the beer there left a silk-like, almost vinuous feeling in the mouth. The initial flavor was all sour, with touches of lemon juice and vinegar. Swallowing started with a slight lactic sour taste, the segued into a juicy, luscious white grapefruit wave before a mouth-puckering sour, refreshing close. The overall experience was notably refreshing - this seemed a beer that one could drink endlessly on a hot summer day (provided that you had a startlingly high income). Definitely a nice beer, earning a solid 4/5.

For my second and final brew (unfortunately I had a dinner reservation afterwards that limited me to a short stay), I had Evil Twin's Even More Jesus, a robust Imperial Stout (12% ABV). In the glass, it was obsidian with a toasty coffee-colored ring. Enormous chocolate, oak, bourbon, and vanilla aromas wafted off the surface, all inflected with a boozy, spirit-like tinge. Upon drinking, this beer exhibited a silky, round, and chewy feel in the mouth, similar to that of Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout. The rich taste of malt, a bit of chocolate, and tons and tons of dried sweet dark stone fruits came through in the boozy tasting and very sweet swallow. I found out later that this beer is aged in port casks for eight months after brewing, and the final procession of flavors and textures all strongly highlight this measure. Overall, a quite impressive beer that avoided some of the most common off-tastes that derail other "great" Imperial Stouts, while simultaneously flaunting many of the virtues of the style. It checks out with a score of 4.25/5.

Just before I left, I decided to take a quick peek at the expansive bottle list, if only to satisfy my curiosity. My nose almost instantly started bleeding from both the astounding variety and the vertiginously high, wallet-pounding prices displayed. Dozens of bottles were casually in the $50-100 range. Blåbær Lambik? A cool $130. Steep, but still cheaper than that flight to Copenhagen.

I'll definitely be back to Tørst to further sample their impressive collection of brews, and I'll be sure to post additional write-ups after doing so. Until then, I encourage you to visit - you'll no doubt have the chance to try some beer that you never would have thought a possibility. 

Details: Tørst, 615 Manhattan Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NYC - L train to Bedford + walk