If It Gets Hot, Keep Your Wits About You

By Sean Derning aka A Beer Fairy

Style saved by a single beer saint

When hops became a main staple of beer recipes, wit beer suffered in popularity and was no longer offered after 1960, according to storey.com. But Pierre Celis, a former Belgian milkman, revived the style by starting a small brewery in his shed, according to kegerator. com. Celis took very light pale malted barley and added some unmalted wheat to the recipe, added coriander and bitter orange peel and came up with a brew that was light in color, had a creamy texture due to the addition of some oats, had faint spice notes instead of aromatic hops and a bubbly effervescence similar to that of sparkling wines.

Celis’ efforts paid off and soon other breweries started up around Hoegaarden, using local recipes that had been tucked away for decades.

the Valencia orange peel is on the palate. The finish is dry but not crisp as few hops are used in the brewing process. At 5.4% alcohol, the beer only rated 28 points on ratebeer. com.

The next beer was Avery Brewing Co’s White Rascal wit. Again, it poured an aggressive white head, and the Curacao orange peel is in the nose. The color is the most visually appealing out of the bunch with a very sunny, cloudy yellow color and the taste is the richest out of the group. At 5.6% alcohol, it scored a 49 on ratebeer.com.

The final offering is Hoegaarden, the sole import represented in this review. But it had to be included. This beer is a fantastic example of the benchmark of Belgian wit brewing. The head poured into tiny bubbles and a light creamy china white head and stuck around for a solid three minutes. There was a kiss of citrus in the nose, more grapefruit than orange, and the color is a very pale yellow and mirrors the color of many sparkling wines.

But the taste is what makes the beer a worthy buy; at first sip, the beer fizzes on the tongue with tiny, tart explosions. It tastes a bit sour and then finishes with a dry sweetness. Fans of sparkling wine and its acidity will really enjoy this beer. This beer stands above the other beers in this competition and received a 81 on ratebeer.com.

At Wit’s End

Once upon a time in Belgium back in the late 1950s, a beer style died. The last Belgian wit-style brewery closed down and with it, so did the beer style of Belgian wit (or white) beers; beers made different by utilizing spices versus traditional hopping for a unique flavor profile. Yet due to the efforts of two brew masters, the style has been revived and offers light refreshment perfect for warmer months and sunny days that should have started to arrive in Steamboat four weeks ago, thank you very much!

This article will focus on a brief history of the rise, fall and revival of Belgian wit beers, discussion of what makes the style unique, and finishing off with a taste test of three commercially and locally available wit beers.

Wit Roots

Dating back to the 14th century, sustenance brewing was practiced in villages and monasteries in Belgium as brewing efforts were safer to drink than water. As demand and populations grew, wit beer grew in popularity and by the 1600s there were two dozen breweries in the central Belgian town of Hoegaarden, according to kegerator.com. These locally made beers had not discovered the addition of hops as a flavoring agent and natural preservative but were given other spices or bitter herbs (called gruit) and plants such as coriander, heather or spruce tips were added to round out or bitter the flavor and reduce the sweetness of the malt.

Celis moved his brewery into an abandoned soda factory in 1978 and in 1985, the brewery was destroyed by fire. With little choice, Celis turned to major brewers and in two separate tries, one in Belgium and one in Austin, Texas, the efforts failed as the major breweries wanted to maximize profits and changed the recipe of the beer that were unacceptable to Celis. He moved back to Belgium and his daughter Christine relaunched the business around 2012, utilizing her father’s original recipe and the original brew master, according to kegerator.com.

Wit beers have enjoyed a resurgence in America, most notably with the appearance of Blue Moon, a Belgian-style wheat beer brewed by the Blue Moon Brewing Company of Golden, CO. (aka Coors Brewing). This is confusing as Blue Moon has a dedicated brewery location in the RiNo District of Denver, according to delish.com.

The Quest Test

Three wit beers were chosen for this month’s challenge; Blue Moon (Golden, CO), Avery Brewing Co’s White Rascal (Boulder, CO) and Inbev’s Hoegaarden (Hoegaarden, Belgium). As wit beers are a tiny segment of the beer market, it was necessary to test domestic offerings and imports to give a better scope of availability.

The first beer tested was Blue Moon, the mastermind of brew master Keith Villa. First brewed at The SandLot at Coors Field and offered in 1995, it is the largest selling wit beer in the country. The beer pours with a nice, aggressive white head with big bubbles and offers a cloudy, corn yellow color. It is a lighter bodied beer and the citrus from

With a brewing history lasting centuries, wit beers are just one of the styles of Belgians that are worth exploring. One of the biggest secrets among beer lovers are Belgian beers, not German, English or American, as their offerings are often world-class, uniquely location-specific and are at a pinnacle in the art of brewing.

Wit beers should be on your radar for the upcoming warmer summer months as it will offer a lighter options on refreshment to help beat the heat. A Beer Fairy is trying to be optimistic here, folks. The weather is bound to change, right?

-SeanDerningisABeerFairyandoffersbeerandbreweryreviewsatBeerfairytales.com