Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project has struck up a partnership with a specialty importer in New York City that will allow the Denver brewery to sell its beers there while Crooked Stave will distribute some rare and unique beers in the Denver area.

The distributor, Brooklyn's 12 Percent Imports, is focused on bringing a handful of boutique Belgian beers into the United States, but it also handles distribution in New York City for a limited number of small or unusual U.S. breweries.

See also: - Crooked Stave will triple in size in 2013, sell sour beers out of state - Crooked Stave extends tap room hours, releases newest beer, Origins - Loveland's Grimm Brothers teams up with Tivoli to distribute beer in Denver

"We're coming together at a time when we're both ready to expand slightly, and he's exactly the kind of person we want to partner with," says 12 Percent's Brian Ewing.

Beginning next month, 12 Percent will send beers to Colorado from: Evil Twin, a "gypsy" brewing company that started in Denmark and is now in New York; Stillwater Artisan Ales, a renowned Baltimore-based gypsy brewery that is focused on Belgian-style and sour ales; Brouwerij Hof Ten Dormaal, a very small farmhouse brewery in rural Belgium; and Gueuzerie Tilquin, a new Belgian brewery that makes lambics.

Crooked Stave owner Chad Yakobson, who formed his distributorship in Colorado to handle his beers and 12 Percent's, will be the only company to have them here; none of 12 Percent's breweries has sold beer in Colorado before.

Ewing and Yakobson met last year at a beer festival on the East Coast, but they had known about each other for some time, Ewing says. "Here was this young, up-and-coming brewer doing amazing stuff in Colorado and we had his beers at our beer-geek tastings. The artisanal beer world is small. It seemed like a natural connection."

Yakobson recently added capacitt at his barrel cellar in Denver and plans to distribute beer to some select markets in Oregon, California and elsewhere, in addition to New York; he says he's looking forward to the partnership with 12 Percent.

He's also looking forward to bringing new and different beers to Colorado, something that Ewing says he's wanted to do for a long time.

"Chad is going to put our beer in the hands of people who are excited about it," Ewing adds. "We will start small, but with a meaningful enough amount of beer so that the people who want it will be able to get it. We're very excited about it."

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