Post by heychadwick on Nov 12, 2010 7:14:31 GMT -5
Hi Tom! If you are going to try to get a Hoegarden for next show, I might as well tell you the story of the Belgian White. At least, this is the story told to me by a beer fender from the Celis Brewery in Austin, Texas. I was working in the beer section of a fancy/hippy grocery store.
Back in the day, there was only one place that still brewed the style of beer called the "Belgian White". This style of beer is basically a hefeweizen with the spice coriander and a slightly fruity taste. It was a small home brewery from a town that used to be "the" place to get the beer. The brewery was more of a garage brewery and run by an older gentleman in town. A local youth named Andrew Celis helped the fellow brew beer. When the older man passed away, he left all the beer brewing legacy to Andrew Celis.
Andrew Celis took out a loan and built a proper brewery for Hoegaarden. A few years later there was a fire that gutted the place. He needed money to rebuild the brewery. Inbev, the largest brewery in the nation stepped in and loaned the money to help rebuild the brewery. After a few years, Andrew Celis felt that Inbev used their influence to change the centuries old formula. Frustrated, Mr Celis sold the remaining portion to Inbev and moved....
....to Austin, Tx to start a new brewery! Why move from Belgium to Texas....I don't know, but Celis Brewery quickly became a local favorite. Andrew's brewery special was the Celis White, which he says was the original Belgian White formula. I've had the luck of drinking this extraordinary beer and it was fantastic. I say "was" because Miller, like all bastard companies, bought Celis brewery when Andrew was getting older. They shut the brewery down so that more people would buy Miller. Just like when Henry Ford bought trolley systems across the US just to shut them down to force people to buy cars.
InBev continued to make the Hoegaarden recipe, though, and we can still enjoy the great taste of a Belgian White. Whatever you do, stay away from the hang-over inducing Blue Moon Belgian White.
Back in the day, there was only one place that still brewed the style of beer called the "Belgian White". This style of beer is basically a hefeweizen with the spice coriander and a slightly fruity taste. It was a small home brewery from a town that used to be "the" place to get the beer. The brewery was more of a garage brewery and run by an older gentleman in town. A local youth named Andrew Celis helped the fellow brew beer. When the older man passed away, he left all the beer brewing legacy to Andrew Celis.
Andrew Celis took out a loan and built a proper brewery for Hoegaarden. A few years later there was a fire that gutted the place. He needed money to rebuild the brewery. Inbev, the largest brewery in the nation stepped in and loaned the money to help rebuild the brewery. After a few years, Andrew Celis felt that Inbev used their influence to change the centuries old formula. Frustrated, Mr Celis sold the remaining portion to Inbev and moved....
....to Austin, Tx to start a new brewery! Why move from Belgium to Texas....I don't know, but Celis Brewery quickly became a local favorite. Andrew's brewery special was the Celis White, which he says was the original Belgian White formula. I've had the luck of drinking this extraordinary beer and it was fantastic. I say "was" because Miller, like all bastard companies, bought Celis brewery when Andrew was getting older. They shut the brewery down so that more people would buy Miller. Just like when Henry Ford bought trolley systems across the US just to shut them down to force people to buy cars.
InBev continued to make the Hoegaarden recipe, though, and we can still enjoy the great taste of a Belgian White. Whatever you do, stay away from the hang-over inducing Blue Moon Belgian White.
