I just read in another thread of people liking this sort of beer yet getting hangovers (I've gotten those too from Hoegaarden white beer but they were all pretty minor).
I didn't want to hijack that thread so here's a new one.
You folks who drink white/wheat beer may know that Hoegaarden Wit started the modern love with white beer (the brand: not in the middle ages I mean).
But did you know that the original recipe isn't the same it once was?
The guy responsible (lately) for the beer (he's called Celis) since sold the company/brewery in Belgium to an international corporation (Interbrew) and then moved to Texas to brew his own "Celis White" which is true to the original recipe (so I've heard from a personal friend and beer guru).
Interbrew then -recently- had the audacity to want to move the brewery from its original location to lower costs (thereby interrupting the use of the original local spring water which beer experts and even Celis himself warned the corporation would ruin the taste). Halfway through the move they realized the taste was lacking and they even recruited the advise of none other than Celis himself to help the brewing. It got so bad earlier that supplies in the Netherlands were completely interrupted and you couldn't find any in the supermarkets.
More here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoegaarden_Brewery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celis
Anyways, Hoegaarden isn't the only one out there. I don't know many but I know Weihenstephan in Germany makes an *awesome* white beer too (and also an awesome dark one, which is insanely delicious).
Another great one is "Franziskaner Weissbier", also German in a golden can/label. --> www.franziskaner.com
If any of you are ever in Holland, don't bother ordering Wieckse Witte as it's a watered down, mass-market white beer made by Heineken pretending to be up-market (Heineken sucks by definition in Holland, but that's beside the point. All beer brands under Heineken corp. are bland, middle-of-road, common denominator brews for the masses, and that's no joke! It's the millions of $$$ of marketing abroad that has made people think it actually stands for quality.).
So, folks in the USA should seek the holy grail: Celis White from Texas.
I didn't want to hijack that thread so here's a new one.
You folks who drink white/wheat beer may know that Hoegaarden Wit started the modern love with white beer (the brand: not in the middle ages I mean).
But did you know that the original recipe isn't the same it once was?
The guy responsible (lately) for the beer (he's called Celis) since sold the company/brewery in Belgium to an international corporation (Interbrew) and then moved to Texas to brew his own "Celis White" which is true to the original recipe (so I've heard from a personal friend and beer guru).
Interbrew then -recently- had the audacity to want to move the brewery from its original location to lower costs (thereby interrupting the use of the original local spring water which beer experts and even Celis himself warned the corporation would ruin the taste). Halfway through the move they realized the taste was lacking and they even recruited the advise of none other than Celis himself to help the brewing. It got so bad earlier that supplies in the Netherlands were completely interrupted and you couldn't find any in the supermarkets.
More here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoegaarden_Brewery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celis
Anyways, Hoegaarden isn't the only one out there. I don't know many but I know Weihenstephan in Germany makes an *awesome* white beer too (and also an awesome dark one, which is insanely delicious).
Another great one is "Franziskaner Weissbier", also German in a golden can/label. --> www.franziskaner.com
If any of you are ever in Holland, don't bother ordering Wieckse Witte as it's a watered down, mass-market white beer made by Heineken pretending to be up-market (Heineken sucks by definition in Holland, but that's beside the point. All beer brands under Heineken corp. are bland, middle-of-road, common denominator brews for the masses, and that's no joke! It's the millions of $$$ of marketing abroad that has made people think it actually stands for quality.).
So, folks in the USA should seek the holy grail: Celis White from Texas.