Pierre Celis was a pioneering brewer who was responsible for reviving the Belgian witbier style and popularizing it around the world. Born in Hoegaarden, Belgium in 1925, Celis grew up in a family that had been brewing beer for generations. As a young man, he began working in the family brewery and eventually took over the business after his father's death.
In the 1950s, however, the Hoegaarden brewery fell on hard times. Like many small breweries in Europe, it was struggling to compete with larger, more modern breweries that were producing cheaper, mass-produced beer. By the 1960s, the Hoegaarden brewery had shut down, and the traditional Belgian witbier style had all but disappeared.But Celis was not content to let the witbier style die out. In the late 1960s, he began experimenting with the recipe for the traditional Belgian witbier, which was brewed with wheat, coriander, and orange peel. After many months of trial and error, Celis succeeded in creating a new version of the beer that was light, refreshing, and delicious. He called it Hoegaarden, after his hometown, and began selling it to local bars and restaurants.
The response to Hoegaarden was overwhelmingly positive, and soon the beer was being sold across Belgium and beyond. By the 1980s, the Hoegaarden brewery had become a major player in the Belgian beer market, and was exporting its products to countries around the world.
In 1985, however, disaster struck. A fire broke out at the Hoegaarden brewery, destroying much of the equipment and inventory. Undeterred, Celis decided to rebuild the brewery from scratch, and even expanded its capacity to meet growing demand. But as the brewery grew, so did Celis's ambitions. In 1992, he sold the Hoegaarden brewery to the brewing giant Interbrew, which is now part of the global conglomerate Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Despite selling his brewery, Celis continued to be an influential figure in the world of beer. He moved to the United States in the 1990s and founded a new brewery in Austin, Texas, which he called Celis Brewery. There, he continued to brew Belgian-style beers and introduced American drinkers to the witbier style that he had revived so many years earlier.
Sadly, Celis passed away in 2011, but his legacy lives on. The Hoegaarden brewery, which he founded and later sold, is still producing some of the most popular beers in the world. And the Belgian witbier style that he revived continues to be enjoyed by beer lovers around the world, thanks in large part to his pioneering efforts. Celis was a true visionary and a trailblazer in the world of beer, and his contributions to the industry will be felt for many years to come.
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