If you've run into me the past year, you've very likely gotten an earful of enthusiasm for a new project just outside of our beloved wine world. Namely, beer! It's our expressed mission to support fermenters and farmers interested in the pursuit of a more sustainable biosphere, the creation of a product that is healthful rather than poisonous (no small feat), and the curation of nature's bounty into something beautiful. Every one of our winemakers strive for this in their artful wines. They are the avant garde of agriculture and the visionaries of an environmentally enlightened aesthetic.
The dreamers and brewers at Drogenbos embody all of these ideals as well as anyone I've met. They are artists in the conventional sense: two of the founders of the Clearing gallery in New York and Brussels. They see this venture as an extension of their other creative pursuits, but one with a practical origin. As Belgians, beer is an integral part of their culture and identity, but after the natural wine movement, it was hard to find beers as digestible as these cleaner, less adulterated wines we've all become accustomed too. They made great pains to source the most naturally farmed grains and fruits. They found stunning products to work with.
They've formed a team of bright-eyed young brewers and distillers to experiment together. I've been lucky enough to visit twice, and it's always so exciting to see how the experiments turn out. Hundreds and hundreds of trials yield a very curated line-up of truly some of the best beers I've ever tasted. Today we are so proud to announce that the beers have finally hit our shores. Just two to start, they are two stunning examples of what this team is capable of. A clean and traditionally rendered Saison, and a Berliner Weisse with acidity and fruit rivaling our most beloved sparkling pet nats. Champagne of the North, indeed!
Berliner Weisse
Saison