The Truth Behind Hoegaarden, If You Dare to Care

Hoegaarden is and has always been an enjoyable beer for me, among one of my favorite beers. I had no idea the truth until just a few weeks ago. You have to enjoy wheat beers to enjoy this beer. Comparable beers would be Blue Moon (which is actually owned by Coors, though they do their best to keep that secret from you), Weihenstephaner Witbier (The world's oldest brewery, founded 1040), and Celis White (which we'll get to).

So what's the scoop on Hoegaarden?

First, it hasn't been around long at all. It was all started in the 1970's by belgian brewer Pierre Celis. He named it after the town of Hoegaarden, which was producing wheat beers since the 1400's. The town of Hoegaarden had about 13 breweries and numerous distilleries at one point, the last brewery closing it's doors in the 1950's. Wheat beers were the prinicipal beer of this area, with common ingredients of Water, Yeast, Wheat, Hops, Coriander and Orange Peel. This style beer was on its way out until Pierre Celis stepped in during the 1970's.

His operation grew very quickly and he set up shop in an old factory in the town, now able to meet the demand of the customers. To his misfortune, a fire broke out and burnt his brewery inoperable. InBev (under a different name at that time) offered up loans so Celis could buy another building nearby to continue operations. InBev happens to be the largest beer conglomerate in the world now, which also owns Anheuser-Busch.

Celis worked to put his brewery back up in operations, but with ownership (significant loans) from InBev, Celis was under pressure to modify his beer to become more of a mass-market style wheat beer. Based on Celis's actions soon thereafter, I deem him an honorable man; a man of pride. He decided it was best to sell his Hoegaarden brewery to InBev and move on. Sure enough, InBev modified the recipe to make it more commercial to the masses, just as you would drink it today.

Don't get me wrong, I like the Hoegaarden I buy today. It's actually the only recipe I knew since i first had one in.....let's say 1996. The fact that it is owned and operated as a part of InBev doesn't affect any future purchase decisions. I buy mass-marketed beers and authentic microbrew beers. What matters most to me is, 'Do I like this beer'? If I enjoy it, then I'll buy it, or attempt to brew it myself.

But this whole series of events really got me thinking. What did the original Hoegaarden recipe taste like? Was it vastly different than the Hoegaarden we know today? My answer is, 'I don't know, but I'm about to find out'.

Pierre Celis decided to open up a brewery in Austin, Texas during the late 80's, early 90's and brew the beer he knew best. He set up operations quickly, under the name Celis Brewery. He manufactured his beers and contracted distribution to Miller for shares of his brewery. His recipe for the original Hoegaarden was branded Celis White. It didn't last many years, because when it came time to buy back his shares from Miller, he opted to sell the brewery to them. Miller took over ownership of the Celis Brewery, and then closed its doors due to weak revenues sometime in 2001.

That leaves me in a bit of a debacle. The Celis Brewery in Austin, Tx no longer exists. I previously stated that I'm going to try some Celis White soon. I have two ways to go about this, but which will give me a more authentic taste.

1. Attempt to search online for an old, unopened case of Celis White dating back almost 10 years. Would it last? My guess is no, considering the high sedimentation of yeast that wheat beers have. You never know though, if it's stored in the right conditions then it could be like drinking a fresh homebrew.


2. My other option is to find Celis White at a specialty beer store (Canal's in Jersey would probably have it), now revived from Michigan Brewing Company.

Soon after Miller closed the doors of the Celis Brewery in Austin, Michigan Brewing Company bought the Celis brand and continued operations. In late 2002, Celis hit the shelves and pubs in bars all over Michigan. Now, it's all over the place, just hard to find. The question remains, 'Does it taste the same as it did 40 years ago?' Did the Michigan Brewing Company obtain the actual recipe from Pierre Celis, or from Miller for that matter? We're not so sure about that.

I was perusing the web site http://www.michiganbrewing.com/ and they make a claim of "belief" that their Celis White brand represents the authenticity and natural flavors that were used by Pierre Celis 6 decades ago. Also according to the website, Pierre Celis visited the Michigan Brewing Company and agreed that its version was similar to the very original.

I could just continue to drink Hoegaarden, because I do like it, but at the same time I have a strong interest in trying the original Celis White from Austin, Tx. I don't see that happening, so I may just have to try Michigan Brewing Company's version of Celis and bellieve in the claim they make on their website. I may never know the truth.