Tørst in Brooklyn, New York

Barkeep by | May 2013 | Issue #76

Tørst isn’t your average beer bar. The rare-craft emporium, which opened in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood in March, has already been serving up some top-shelf beers. Cantillon. Nøgne. Mikkeller. Lots of Evil Twin (but more on that in a minute). What’s more, it’s not the easiest place to find (early reviews mention its lack of a sign), and its website, TorstNYC.com, provides almost no information. So, what’s the deal? Do its founders plan to play it close to vest going forward? “Hard to say,” Tørst general manager Jon Langley says.

Fair enough.

But who needs publicity when the bar’s owner is Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø, the man behind Danish gypsy brewery Evil Twin and the twin brother of Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, of Mikkeller fame. Jarnit-Bjergsø relocated Evil Twin to Brooklyn last year, and Tørst (which means “thirst” in Danish) was part of that plan.

Jarnit-Bjergsø also brought on chef Daniel Burns—who’s worked with Noma, Fat Duck and Momofuku—to handle food in Luksus (which means “luxury”), the “secret restaurant” that will open in the back of the bar in early summer. Burns plans to work closely with the beers that Jarnit-Bjergsø brings in.

“You see more and more beers included in wine-tasting menus,” Burns says. “It’s very exciting to explore the possibilities and complexities of different beers and how they will work with specific dishes.”

With no wine or spirits, Tørst is free to focus solely on craft beer. Langley is putting a premium on hospitality and glassware as well. The response has been fairly frenetic for a bar as young as this one, too; The Strokes lead singer Julian Casablancas visited, telling his 260,000-plus Twitter followers to check out the place for its “crazy and amazing beers.”

Jarnit-Bjergsø met Burns about a year ago, and for his part (that is, the beer), he’s hoping to provide a fantastic selection that will impress both review-scouring geeks and newbies alike. “It just comes down to serving the best beers in the best possible ways,” Jarnit-Bjergsø says. “It’s always fun to present stuff that people haven’t tried before. That’s pretty important. We don’t do it just to have something that no one’s had before. We do it because we believe in the breweries we represent.”