#celis brewery

The tale of Celis beer is one of history, acquisitions, immigration, and family. Pierre Celis was born and raised in the Belgian village of Hoegaarden. Witbier had originated here and had a history stretching back to the Middle Ages. At it’s peak, in the 19th century, Hoegaarden has 13 breweries. By the middle of the 20th century the last one had closed. Pierre Celis, who was a milkman by trade, decided to revive brewing and revive witbier in his hometown. Therefore, in the modern sense, Pierre Celis is the father of witbier. Starting off in his barn, he founded the brewery which would eventually be named after the village. After a fire in the mid-’80s, he was given a loan by Interbrew (which would become the dreaded AB-InBev) to rebuild. He began to feel like they were pressuring him for control and decided to just go ahead and sell the brewery to them and move on. He wanted to start a brewery in the United States and picked Austin, Texas. Celis Brewery was founded in 1992 and, in it’s original incarnation, lasted until 2001. It retains an exalted status for older Austinites. Here’s where things get convoluted. Pierre sold his Austin brewery to Miller, who closed it down and sold the name to Michigan Brewing Company. They produced a beer called Celis White (before going bankrupt) and a beer called Celis White was being produced in Belgium (and still is to this day). It took many years for Pierre’s daughter Christine to get back the legal rights to use her family name again. She had planned to open a new brewery here in Austin called Flemish Fox but it opened last year under the classic Celis Brewery name. Now that the history lesson is over let’s get on to the beer...

I found a single bottle of Celis White and a single bottle of Hoegaarden right next to each other in the grocery store and felt that was a sign that I needed to compare them. So here it is, the main event, one night only, Celis vs. Hoegaarden! Ding ding ding!

Celis White is quite fruity, a good mix of citrus and melon. It is bready and yeasty as well and has that typical witbier bubblegum thing going on too. The beer pours hazy and has a hint of hoppy zippiness in the finish. This is a well-balanced and refreshing beer though a little sweeter than Hoegaarden.

Hoegaarden Wit-Blanche is yeastier than Celis White. The basic flavors are the same but there seems to be less of them. The body of the beer, while still hazy, is thinner on the mouthfeel. There might be a bit more spice in this one but there’s also that Euro skunk thing going on too.