WITBIER TIME!

In honor of the 1 year anniversary of our gold medal at the World Beer Cup for our Witbier (Belgian White Ale), we thought we’d share a little bit of history of this style, and provide proper homage to the man who brought it to America. 

It’s that time of year again, when everything becomes green and the weather starts teasing us with warm temperatures that we know will inevitably turn into Texas heat.  For the brewers at Community Beer Co., we also know this means we need to start brewing a lot more Witbier!  While we brew this refreshing wheat beer year-round, demand skyrockets as the weather warms due to its heat-beating and refreshing qualities.

Witbier was once a nearly extinct style, but now has become more common in the U.S., with dozens of microbreweries offering their own take on this classic beer style. 

HOMAGE TO PIERRE CELIS

Unlike many classic beer styles though, the popularity of witbier – or white beer – is tied to one specific brewer, and his name is Pierre Celis.   Without him, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

Pierre was born in the 1920s in the Flemish region of Belgium in a small town called Hoegaarden, which had a centuries-old reputation for their locally made white beers.  He often helped brew at a local brewery named Tomsin that made white beer.  However, in the mid-1950s this brewery – the last one making witbier – closed, ceasing the existence of commercially brewed witbier.  Years later in 1966, determined and thirsty, Pierre opened up his own brewery and began brewing and selling witbier locally once again in his hometown of Hoegaarden. 

After a fire at the brewery, InBev offered loans to help rebuild his brewery, which he accepted, but years later decided to sell them the brewery and start anew in Austin, Texas.  The story goes that Celis chose Austin as the place to start his new brewery because Texans speak with a slow drawl, making them easier to understand.

In 1992 he opened his brewery in Austin and attained decent success, though he quickly met production constrictions and accepted a partnership with Miller Brewing Co. in order to expand his facilities.  Long story shortened, Pierre finally sold the brewery to Miller and they eventually scaled back the brand, reportedly changed the recipe, and removed it from many markets.

OUR VERSION OF WITBIER

As a craft beer lover, I have always been a fan of Hoegaarden white beer and initially brewed a single batch of white beer at my brewpub The Covey in Fort Worth.  I routinely brewed batches of beer there without experimenting on a small scale, and they generally turned out fine.  However, my first attempts at witbier were way off balance: too much orange, not enough coriander and a lack of yeast driven esters and phenolics.  Balancing spice character in a beer is tricky business!

Years later, in the summer of 2012, I began brewing small-scale batches for Community Beer Co.’s initial releases.  One of the beers we brewed the most on our pilot system was what became Community’s Witbier.  And we didn’t brew a lot of it because we were drinking it fast.  We brewed a lot of it because I was trying to get the damn spices right!  I tried chamomile and lemon grass amongst others, and eventually went back to the traditional additions of orange peel and coriander. 

A COMMON YEAST STRAIN

It was at this time that I tried a blend of yeasts.  One of which included the very same strain of yeast that Pierre brought with him to Texas, which we still use in the final version today.

The particular yeast that Pierre brought with him to his Austin brewery, is distinctly unique.  It ferments fairly clean, but with soft fruity esters and mild spiciness, which meld amazingly well with the witbier style of beer.  We also include another Belgian strain of yeast in the blend that adds complexity and helps make our Witbier at Community distinctly our own.

After five batches, I had my recipe, and in the spring of 2013 we brewed our first commercial batch of Witbier.  After years of trying to get a Witbier right, I felt I had finally brewed the perfect one, with a balance of the wheat, spices and yeast.

WORLD BEER CUP

I liked our Witbier so much that in the spring of 2014, I entered it into the World Beer Cup, the largest international beer competition on Earth, which is held every two years.  To our great excitement, Community Beer Company’s Witbier was awarded the Gold medal in a category of 61 entrants from around the world! 

A medal at the World Beer Cup is the most treasured award a brewer’s beer can receive, so it was a very special day and is our most meaningful award to date.  The panel of judges at World Beer Cup is composed of at least 2/3 non-American judges, so there is a very big difference in the tastes from Great American Beer Festival – also a prestigious competition - which is composed of mostly American panels. 

It was humbling to know that these international judges found our Witbier to be one of the best in the world.  Our little brewery's offering beat out the likes of Hoegaarden and many other international Witbiers we respect.  Very humbling indeed!

COMING FULL CIRCLE

While winning Gold at World Beer Cup was sweet, what was even sweeter was very shortly after the market release of our Witiber, we had a drop in visitor to the brewery from a man that had a history with Pierre.  He was a cellarman at the brewery in Belgium and followed Pierre to Austin to start Celis Brewery.  He was drinking our Witbier at a local watering hole and the woman he was with is a friend of our founder, Kevin Carr.  He insisted on coming by to talk to me about the beer, and she brought him to Community’s brewery.  He introduced himself and proceeded to tell me that our witbier was the closest thing he had ever tasted to the beer they were originally brewing in Belgium!  I got goose bumps!  What a flattering and humbling compliment, one I’ll never forget.

Next time you pick up our Witbier, think about the balance that’s achieved in that beer, with all the elements of a classic wit present, but none dominating.  It’s a truly sessionable beer, brewed with inspiration from the late and great Pierre Celis, and brewed once again locally for our fellow Texans to enjoy. 

Cheers to a rich heritage of select beer styles that are thriving in Texas!