By Iron Chef Leftovers
I would be willing to bet most of you have no idea who Pierre Celis, who passed away in April at the age of 86, is. If you have ever had a glass of any sort of Wit or White beer (not to be confused with Hefewisen, which is something different), you should be thanking him for what you are drinking. Celis was a Belgian who started his first brewery in the late 1960’s after an uninspiring career as a milkman. Celis revived an old style of Belgian beer, Wit, which had all but disappeared; the beer that he unleashed on the world – Hoegaarden. Celis sold his interest in the brewery in the late 80’s and moved to Austin, Texas, where he started brewing Celis White in the early 1990’s, considered to be the first microbrewed Wit beer in the U.S. as well as the one which started the trend of Wit beers from U.S. breweries. Celis then sold that brewery and moved back to Belgium, and worked as a guest brewer for a variety of breweries until his death.
Next time you find yourself quaffing a Wit, raise your glass to one of the most important brewers of the 20th century and remember, if it wasn’t for him, you would probably be drinking an IPA.
FlatbreadGarden 