Sunday, November 11, 2007

The Next Great Belgian-Style White Ale

So I finally procured a sixer of Celis White, something I have been arduously seeking for some time now, being privy to the fact that its brewed a scant 45 minutes northwest of Ann Arbor. Before pouring the first long-awaited tasty brew I realized that I had not had a Celis in probably 5 or 6 years, from before when they had the brewery in Austin. Upon the first sip of libation coursing past my lips I was immediately aware of one rather eminent fact; my beer tastes have matured significantly in the past 5 years or so. I had built up this exaggerated image in my head of how tremendous Celis White was (and admittedly, I am on a tear for Belgian White Ales at the moment), and found myself supremely disappointed upon its reintroduction into my beer rotation. Its not that it was terrible by any means...just not at the level which I remembered. I suppose that could possibly be a function of the formula that the Michigan Brewing Company is using as compared to what the Austin brewery was operating with, but regardless, I'd far sooner imbibe a Hoegaarden before I would a Celis White (rather ironic, given the fact that Pierre Celis left the Hoegaarden factory to start brewing Celis White, claiming that was the way Hoegaarden was "supposed" to be).

However, all was not lost, as I did discover a white ale better than Hoegaarden...Bell's Brewery Winter White Ale. Brewed here in Michigan, just a shade outside of Kalamazoo (they make a decent stout as well), it's got a solid color, genius taste (it is nothing short of amazing on draft), and it's readily available, at least for the next few months.

"Moreover, I advise that Fran must be canned."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Why would you expect Celis to still be good after being bought out and moved to a macrobrew facility?