Tasting Notes: Van Steenberge: Celis White

Van Steenberge: Celis White (Belgium: Belgium Wit: 5% ABV)

Visual: Very pale hazy lemon juice with a  dash of mostly white head coving it. A few suds left as the head trails away.

Nose:  Mild lemon. Crisp wheat. Earthy turmeric touches. Crushed sesame seeds. Passion fruit intrudes as it warms.

Body:   Very fresh lemon curd. Whippy ice cream. Graceful wheat mixes with pineapple juice drink.  Passion fruit. Carrots. Occasionally very light strawberries.

Finish: Lemon meringue and cream. Quite dry. Passion fruit.

Conclusion: A wit beer of distinctive, if slightly confusing heritage, which is explored slightly in the background section. This beer cleaves very closely to the traditional wit beer style, somewhat unsurprisingly.

Very fresh and graceful, it has a nice balance of flavours, though does not push them to the fore as much as I prefer which occasionally resulted in a slightly thin main body.  This was the exception rather than the rule though, and it can bring a very nice citrus fresh shock if you ever let your guard down.

A pretty spot on interpretation of the classic style that shows a range of subtlety that the current Hoegaarden lacks, it does however seem slightly lacking since having Mikkeller’s not just another wit, though quite frankly they are trying to be very different beers.

Still a fine beer, and a memory of where the style came from.

Background: Pierre Celis, who was the original brewer of Hoegaarden developed Celis White in a Texas Brewery after being forced to sell his originally brewery in Belgium.   This beer from Belgium is supposedly the same recipe, which is allegedly the original Hoegaarden recipe. It is all very confusing.  Pierre Celis passed away earlier this year, so with the Texas take out of my reach, it seemed the closest thing I could get to raise in his honour.