De Proef Van Twee & Witte Noire Announcement
For Immediate Release
November 9, 2009 – Seattle, Washington
SBS Imports is pleased to announce the arrival of the two newest beers in
the De Proef line-up, Van Twee Belgian Ale (collaboration with Bell’s
Brewery) and Witte Noire Imperial Amber Wheat Ale.
Van Twee (From Both) is the third beer in the Brewmaster’s Collaboration
Series. Previous collaborations included Signature Ale with Tomme Arthur of
Port Brewing/Lost Abbey and Les Deux Brasseurs with Jason Perkins of
Allagash. Van Twee was co-designed and brewed by John Mallet of Bell’s and
Dirk Naudts at De Proef. It is a deep amber-chocolate colored porter-dubbel
hybrid, with Michigan sour cherry juice and brettanomyces in the secondary
fermentation. Layers of rich chocolate and coffee notes are followed by
underlying sweet-sour cherry fruitiness with a long finish. It is
reminiscent of the famous filled chocolates of Belgium. It is available in
cases of 6/750ml cork-finished bottles and 20L kegs. Suggested retail price
is $16.99 per bottle. Alcohol 7.5% by volume.
Witte Noire Imperial Amber Wheat Ale is another unique style interpretation
created by SBS’ President Alan Shapiro along with Brewmaster Dirk Naudts.
Witte Noire is a companion to the highly acclaimed La Grande Blanche
Imperial White Ale, blending darker malts along with wheat in the grain
bill. Witte Noire is a rich chestnut brown color with a full tan head. It
features light roasted porter-like notes on the front pallet followed by a
round, soft middle. Clove-like spice notes dominate the elegant finish. It
is perhaps a Belgian interpretation of the classic wheat doppelbock beers of
Germany. Witte Noire is available in cases of 6/750ml cork-finished
bottles, with a suggested retail price of $9.99. It is 7.5% alcohol by
volume.
“Our goal with both the Brewmaster’s Collaboration and Brewmaster’s
Collection series is to bring products of unique taste profiles to
discerning Belgian beer enthusiasts,” noted Shapiro. “I believe these beers
are exceptional additions to De Proef range available in the U.S.”
Highly regarded Belgian brewing engineer and professor, Dirk Naudts, founded
the De Proefbrouwerij in 1996. He crafts each batch in an 11HL (9 U.S.
barrel) brewhouse that blends state-of-the-art technology with traditional
methods. Prior to creating DeProef, Naudts was the Brewmaster at Roman
Brewery in Oudenaarde, Belgium and Brewmaster at the prestigious St. Lieven
brewing program in Gent, Belgium.
SBS Imports is based in Seattle, Washington and was founded by specialy beer
industry veteran Alan Shapiro in 2002. IN addition to De Proef, SBS also
imports Aspall Cyders from Suffolk, England and Batemans Ales from
Lincolnshire, England. More information is available at
www.sbs-imports.com.