With beers brewed in the craft scene, it is hard to throw a stone without hearing the word ‘hops’ ten or twelve times. One might be forgiven for thinking that hops are the be all and end all of craft beer. The terms ‘hopbomb’ and ‘hophead’ have been coined for people for very hoppy beers and the people who love them respectively.
Much discussion could be had about hops, but that would be a chat for another day. Todays beers are built around virtually everything but hops. Today we are looking at beers, both based around beer styles of Belgian origin, that highlight the flavours that can be achieved from unusual yeasts, a combination of wheat and malt providing the grain flavours, and various spices and unusual ingredients to add a distinctively different dimension of flavour – all on a beer base with a notably subdued hop character.
The beers that we are tasting to-day are Celis White and Urthel Saisonniere.
Witbiers and Saisons –
These two styles are unmistakeably Belgian in origin. However, as craft brewers have sought to re-interpret classic styles, versions of both witbiers and saisons have been brewed by a range of craft brewers in various countries. While (one or many) IPA’s are often seen as the cornerstone of many craft breweries ranges, brewing of witbiers and saisons by craft breweries reflect a desire by these breweries to flex their creative muscles beyond the use of hops in beer.
While distinctly different styles, witbiers and saisons have some elements in common. Beyond the fact that hop character is very much secondary in these styles (in some cases, virtually undetectable and non-existant), other features of the brewing of these beer styles shine through in the flavour.
Belgian yeasts contribute their own distinctive flavour to the beers in which they are used for brewing. In the case of witbiers, the yeasts used provide a crisp, clean character, with contributions of fruit, and sometimes subtle spiciness in the beer. With saisons, the Belgian yeast character demonstrates classic ‘Belgian funk’ – translated as phenolics, which shine through as spiciness in the beer, and what is sometimes described as ‘farmyard character’ and can alternately be described (depending on the beer) as organic, goaty (or capryllic), horse blanket, hay – all descriptors that might cause people to raise their eyebrows, but when one tastes a saison, one understands its truly unique and distinctive character. Not to everybody’s taste sometimes, but delicious to people looking for a distinctive and individualistic beer style.
In the case of both witbiers and saisons, a second defining characteristic is the use of non-standard ingredients. Orange peel (curacao) and coriander are the defining ingredients in witbier, but many examples of witbier have supplemented these variously with lemongrass, roasted lemons, and other herbs and spices. Spicy character is also a distinctive character of saisons. While some of this spicy character may come from phenolics derived from yeast during fermentation, many saisons have an array of herbs and spices (‘gruut’) as an ingredient providing this cornerstone spice character to the beer.
Celis White – Pierre Celis and Hoegaarden –
Pierre Celis. Image: Trentjohnson via Wikimedia Commons, CC by 3.0
The story behind Celis White is a story that reflects the creative drive behind craft brewers, and the conflicts that can arise between creative craft brewers and global brewing corporations. Pierre Celis was a Belgian brewer who, in the 1950’s, had a passion for reviving a Belgian style of beer that was 400 years old but that had virtually died out. Witbier was a classic Belgian beer style, and Celis was convinced that a properly brewed witbier would find favour with beer drinkers. He brewed Hoegaarden, and was proved correct – so much so that his brewery garnered the attention of a brewing company named (at that time) Interbrew, and now known as Anheuser Busch-Inbev – the largest brewing company in the world. Interbrew purchased Celis’ brewery, and the creative and passionate brewer found himself having to work within the constraints and bureaucracy of a large brewing corporation.
Sparks began to fly. Brewers in Interbrew claimed that Celis would not maintain consistency in the brewing of his beers. Celis claimed that Interbrew were constantly trying to change the recipe for his beloved Hoegaarden, and that he was simply trying to return the beer to its original glorious flavour. The inevitable happened, and Celis parted ways with Interbrew, and Interbrew was able to have their way with Hoegaarden, unfettered by the objections of the beer’s creator. Under normal circumstances, the story would fizzle out here. However, this was not to be, and controversy continued on both sides of this battlefield.
In later years, Interbrew / Inbev became mired in controversy when, driven by considerations of financial returns driven by analysis by company accountants, they attempted to close down the Hoegaarden brewery. Following the announcement, demonstrations were held on the streets of the town, and residents of the town of Hoegaarden made such noise that this large brewing company was eventually forced into an embarrassing climb down. Inbev announced that they were reversing their decision to close the brewery, and invested relatively considerable sums to bring the brewery up to the standards that they were happy with.
In parallel with this, Pierre Celis was not content to stay quiet. Not only continuing to criticise Interbrew for the damage that they were doing to the flavour of his beloved beer, he opted to establish a new brewery in Texas, U.S. to brew a witbier to reflect the original flavours that he had achieved in his original Hoegaarden, but which he decried were being destroyed by the beer’s new corporate masters. Celis White was brewed to Celis’ original recipe for Hoegaarden, and his promotion of the beer was uncompromising in both his criticism of Interbrew’s Hoegaarden, and in clearly declaring that his Celis White demonstrated firstly how witbier should be brewed, and secondly, how the flavour of his beloved Hoegaarden, as brewed by Interbrew, was now a pale shadow of what he had originally achieved when he had first brewed the beer.
Celis continued to brew in the U.S., and the brewing of Celis White also came back to the beer’s original roots in Belgium when Celis agreed to work with Brewery Van Steenberge in Belgium. Van Steenberge – now a sixth generation family brewery – now brews Celis White in Belgium, and the beer available in Europe is the Belgian brewed Celis White. The label depicts a cowboy attempting to lasso a steer – probably intended to reflect the story of Celis journey to the ‘New World’ by moving to Texas, and his ‘wild frontier’ approach to overthrowing the efforts of Interbrew to (in the opinion of Celis) destroy the essence of what he had tried to achieve when he had worked to re-establish the witbier style.
Celis White –
Beer Style - Belgian White Beer (Witbier)
Alcohol by Volume - 5.0% a.b.v.
Brewed by - Originally, Pierre Celis at the Hoegaarden Brewery.
Now brewed at Van Steenberge Brewery.
Brewed in - Ghent, Belgium
‘Witbier’ literally translates as ‘white beer’. On pouring Celis White, the colour of the full and tight head unmistakeably reflects this sentiment – it is distinctly brilliant white, with this colour and consistency of head driven largely by the very high proportions of wheat used in the brewing of this beer. But it is the ghostly haze in the very pale straw coloured body of the beer that is the real driver behind the name of this beer style. While the beer has a definite straw yellow colour, as one holds the beer up to the light, this yellow colour almost glows with a suggestion that whiteness is trying to shine through the beers base colour.
The presentation of Celis White might remind the beer drinker of Hoegaarden. However, the aroma and flavour of Celis White, when compared to Hoegaarden, show up Hoegaarden to be a pale imitation of this original ‘new world witbier’. With hop aroma completely absent (as is appropriate to the style), the aroma of freshly pressed orange juice is a delight to the nose in Celis White, and this primary aroma is layered with the complexity of coriander with gentle white pepper spice underneath.
On tasting this beer, the crisp refreshment of the beer is unmistakeable. However, often when one sees a description of a beer as ‘crisp and refreshing’ it can (when applied to mainstream beers) often signal that there is little to say about the beer other than it is wet and it quenches your thirst. Nothing could be further from the truth with Celis White. All of the promise of complexity from the aroma of this beer follows through in the flavour, and while the light to medium body and zing of carbonation in this beer ensure that Celis White is a perfectly thirst quenching summer beer, the flavour of citrus (in the form of orange, now developing into zingy lemon), and the layers of subtle spiciness in the beer all demonstrate the complexity inherent in this beer.
When a beer style is being revived, one hopes that the essence and distinctive character that defines and distinguishes this beer style will shine through in the beer. This is most definitely the case with Celis White. The beer is delicious, but it also is an object lesson as to why people go to the trouble of defining and describing beer styles. Celis White – as a witbier – could never be confused for its ‘cousin’ style, the German witbier, nor could one ever confuse this for a European lager. It is unmistakeably a witbier. Likewise, Celis White shines a spotlight on the difference between a beer designed and brewed to the vision of a passionate and creative craft brewer (Celis White), as compared to beer brewed by a global corporation (such as the current Hoegaarden, but also many other similar examples abound) that chooses to slap a certain beer style on the label because market metrics suggest that consumers will be convinced to buy the beer because this beer style nomenclature gives the beer the right ‘image’.
Urthel Saisonniere –
Urthel Saisonniere. Image: Dirk VE via Wikimedia Commons, CC by 3.0
Beer Style - Belgian Saison
Alcohol by Volume - 6.0% a.b.v.
Brewed by - Brewery de Koningshoeven
Brewed in - Koningshoeven, Netherlands
Like the ‘original Hoegaarden’ – Celis White – Urthel beers have had various homes over the course of their lives. Female brewer Hildegard Van Osteden originally established a microbrewery in Flanders, Belgium. As the popularity of her beers outgrew the capacity that she had available, she moved to work with larger breweries to satisfy demand. Having worked with a few Belgian breweries over the years, she has finally settled with Brewery de Koningshoeven in the Netherlands – the of the La Trappe beers.
Saisons are ‘farmyard ales’. As such, this description is relatively broad, and different examples of the style can range in appearance from pale gold to rich amber. Urthel Saisonniere presents with a hazy gold appearance, and white head. In line with what one would expect from a ‘normal’ saison, the alcohol by volume comes in at 6.0% (typical saisons range between 5.0% and 7.0%, though some examples can stretch higher than this upper limit).
As farmyard ales, saisons normally deliver what has come to be described as ‘Belgian funkiness’. Urthel Saisonniere is no exception. Aromas for this beer range across fresh straw to organic hay, with goaty and farmyard character in evidence. These descriptions may seem unusual when one looks at them on paper, but really the best way to understand and appreciate the essence of the style is to smell and taste the beer. This farmyard character combines on the nose with subtle spiciness – translated as white pepper and perfumey herbal character.
When tasting Urthel Saisonniere, one can only describe it in terms of a series of waves of flavour in the beer. While this flavour is particularly complex, one would have to say that the overall impression of the beer is that it is distinctly refreshing without compromising on layers of flavour, none of which outbalances or overpowers the other. The first ‘wave’ of flavour is the aroma. When tasting the beer, the Belgian funk first greets the palate, but as the beer is swallowed, the second wave of spiciness develops on the palate. White pepper, black pepper and herbal character are all in evidence. As the beer is swallowed, a further wave of character is in evidence in the form of a most interesting dryness is left on the palate which is supplemented and complemented by the spice character in the beer. When one normally describes a residual spiciness on the tongue, the first thing one thinks of is intense and burning spice character that one would associate with chillies or curry powder. The residual spice character on the palate in the finish of Urthel Saisonniere is very much at the opposite end of the scale. White pepper is left as a suggestion on the palate, together with suggestions of herbs, and together these contribute to and accentuate the dry finish in the beer.
Saisons are a unique style – distinctive and individualistic in two ways. Firstly, the style parameters allow brewers to interpret the style in their own way. Secondly, the essence of the syle – with its core of Belgian funk and the use of spices to further develop flavour – make this style quite different from others with which people might be familiar. It is unlikely that one will ever see a saison brewed by a mainstream brewery – and given that these beers are described as ‘farmhouse ales’, the idea that a saison could find a home in a large brewery is virually inconceivable. However, if one is looking for a beer that is particularly distinctive, a saison will give a unique taste experience, and Urthel Saisonniere is a superb example of the style.
Beers available in –
Joe Smith Bar, Navan, County Meath
Next Door, Meath St, Dublin
Martins Off-licence, Fairview, Dublin 3
Drinks Store, Manor St, Dublin 1
Redmond's of Ranelagh, Dublin
Sweeney's Wine Merchants, Phibsboro, Dublin
Eurospar, Dalkey, County Dublin
McHughs O/L, Kilbarrack, Dublin
Next Door, Wicklow Town, County Wicklow
Worldwide Wines, Dunmore Rd, Waterford
Dicey Reilly's Bar and Off-Licence, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal
Bradley's Supermarket, North Main Street, Cork City
Courtney's Pub, Killarney, Co. Kerry
Stack's Off-Licence, Listowel, Co. Kerry
The Bierhaus, 28 Popes Quay, Cork, CO. Cork
Desmond's Next Door, Fr. Russell Road, Raheen, Limerick
Number 21 Off-Licence, Coburg Street, Cork
Number 21 Off-Licence, Ballinacurra, Midleton, Cork
Matson's Inns, Douglas, Cork
Dwan's Spar, Ballycullen, Dublin 16
Blackrock Cellars Off-Licence, Blackrock, County Dublin
Desmond's Next Door, Sundrive Road, Kimmage, Dublin 12
Salt House, Ravens Terrace, Galway, Co. Galway
