This beer is from the Michigan Brewing Company but formerly was brewed in Austin Texas by Pierre Celis who had immigrated there after played a key role in the restoration of the entire Belgian white beer style. The brewery has a Flash time-line on all that history and here are three beer blog reviews of white beer and here are four more.
This ale is an example of a high-end white at 8% rather than the roughly 5% you would get with, say, your basic Hoegaarden. It pours fairly still, golden with a snow white head that disipates to foam and rim. The initial effect is definitely Duval mixed with Hoegaarden. There is the thickness and lipstickiness of the Belgian candi sugar and the heat of a Belgian golden strong beer like Duval as well as the corrianger-orange of a white. There is also pale ale grain, as opposed to just round maltiness, as well as balance from the cloy-cutting by the bitter if recessed hops. It would be interesting to compare this ale with others of this small style. I would buy again. BAers give it a 98% thumbs-up rating.
Comments
The Angler - December 13, 2005 1:59 PM
Six months after Celis stopped brewing I was in Belgium for a conference. Of course I visited all the pubs and beer shops I could find while there. In Leuven I found a beer shop that had a wall of bottles with the Celis label on them: Celis Brewery Austin Texas. I asked one of the locals if they knew anything about the beer. I was told that Celis had returned to Belgium and was brewing again. Don't know if that was true or not. Nice to see that Michigan Brewing has picked up Celis and is brewing a Grand Cru version too. For Xmas my wife ordered me a case of Hoegaarden Grand Cru. I would be nice to do a head to head taste comparison.
Jennifer - May 24, 2006 6:36 PM
Hello. My husband and I tried the Hoegaarden Belgian White beer here in Santa Fe, NM, just a couple of weeks ago. I have to tell you, it's my favorite beer so far. Seeing that my husband is a huge "import" beer enthusiast, he especially loves to try new beers. We definately fell in love with this one. It's very tasty with an orange slice in it as well. Can you tell me where I can order it here in the states? Maybe give me a contact #. I know they are imported through Norwalk, CT. Anything would help.
Thanks,
Jennifer
Alan - May 24, 2006 8:09 PM
Hi Jennifer.
Check with this business that appears to be a local beer wholesaler in Santa Fe. They should beable to tell you where a good beer shop is:
Premier Distributing Co
2680 Sawmill Rd
Santa Fe, NM 87505
(505) 473-0595
Even though I bet there is a shop in Santa Fe, you can try calling these shops in Albuquerque:
Kelly Liquors
2226 Wyoming Blvd NE
Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87112
phone: (505) 296-7815
Quarters Discount Liquors
801 Yale Blvd NE
Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87106
phone: (505) 247-8579
Jubilation Fine Wines
3512 Lomas Blvd. NE
Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87106-1336
phone: (505) 255-4404
Remember that there are other white beers besides Hoegaarden that are very respectable versions of the style. Your local Second Street Brewery in Santa Fe also seems to brew a white beer as a seasonal. Take that fella out and see if they have it on tap.
Nermal - December 6, 2006 1:01 AM
I am in search of hoegaarden grand cru in California. So far i have only found very expensive imports online. Please email if you know.
Beer Titan - May 11, 2007 3:04 PM
Your review describes "the thickness and lipstickiness of the Belgian candi sugar." I believe that is pure imagination. So-called "Belgian candi sugar" is nothing but sucrose (table sugar), plain and simple, and as such it is completely fermentable so would actually serve to thin out the body of the beer rather that make it somehow thicker. Also, I visited the original Celis Brewery, and they had plain old table sugar in plain view in the brewery. Assuming it was used in the Grand Cru (at the time they described it as an all-malt beer, so I assumed no sugar at all), and Michigan Brewing uses the same recipe, their simply is no "Belgian Candi suagr" in it at all!
Alan - May 11, 2007 4:04 PM
Of course it is imagination. It's my imagination and the effort to describe things. There is a thing there that I tasted a year and a half ago and that kind of sugar additive leaves for my what I think of an effect like icing on the lips. You might describe it as something else, not notice it or combine half a sensation with other sensations to come up with something else.