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Pierre
Remembered
In Memoriam : Pierre Celis (1925–2011)
Remembrance by Pete Slosberg | Photo
by Gregg Wiggins |
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On April 9, 2011, I lost a friend
who happened to be a brewing rock star.
We, in the beer business in the U.S., know Pierre Celis as the
founder of Celis Brewing in Austin, Texas and creator of Celis
White. His impact on me was major as I learned about Belgian
beer from him as a mentor. I'm sure many will write about Pierre
and the history of Wit/White beer. I want to write about Pierre
as a man and a friend.
We met many times in Austin, San Francisco, and on the road
during the 1990's and he even stayed with my wife and I at our
home. A generally quiet man with a good sense of humor, he encouraged
me to visit him in Belgium, but I had no time until 2000, when
I finally got to go to Belgium and he offered to be my guide.
Everywhere we went, people knew Pierre. Since we mostly stopped
at beer oriented places, I was kind of expecting that he would
be somewhat known to other Belgian beer people. I didn't realize
how well known he was until a trip to Belgium in 2005.
I was going to a regional beer festival in Northeastern town
of Hasselt. I called Pierre, who by this point didn't want to
drive, especially at night, to see if he wanted to attend the
festival (which he did) and I picked him up. Pierre said he
thought he knew where the venue was. However, upon getting into
Hasselt, it was soon clear that Pierre really didn't know where
to go so we decided to stop and get directions. About the only
place that was open that evening, was a used car lot, so we
decided to go in and get directions. We walked into the manager's
office and as soon as we did, he got out of seat and said, "Pierre
Celis, what are you doing here?" A beer guy known to a
car salesman? Now that is rock star status to me!
Pierre was a very kind man who always offered to take me around
his country. On every trip over, we'd meet at his home in Hoegaarden
and over coffee and chocolates with his wife, Juliet, we'd discuss
where to go. The lasting image of visiting Pierre was entering
the courtyard of his home and seeing a Sequoia tree he secreted
into Belgium from the U.S. and also a Cadillac with Texas plates
in his garage. Spending a full day with the monks at Rochfort,
or visiting the caves where he stored his Grotten Biers or even
taking him to one of my favorite Lambic blenders, Hanssen's,
which surprisingly, he had never heard of, were some of our
adventures.
It took several years before I got the nerve to ask Pierre about
his formula for his Wit Bier. While I didn't know his bill of
materials, I did know that he used unmalted wheat, not malted
wheat. I was curious about this. Was it some special flavor
or exotic chemistry? He looked at me as if I was from another
planet. The answer was simple: "Why would I want to pay
more for malted wheat!"
Last year, on his 85th birthday, my wife and I decided to fly
to Belgium and wish him well. His health had already been failing
after a stroke and he was almost blind and deaf and not able
to move on his own. There was no formal party for him, but I
told Juliet we wanted to travel and visit him anyway. We arrived
at his house with Chris Bauweraerts, founder of Achouffe and
mentee of Pierre. It was a rather somber birthday meeting, but
Chris decided to lighten the atmosphere when he looked at me
and told me that Pierre's first brew didn't ferment. Pierre
immediately smiled and I was curious.
It turns out that when Pierre decided to start his brewing company,
he utilized his recipe for making Wit Bier from his neighbor,
Mr. Tomsin, the last maker of Wit Bier before it disappeared.
Mr Tomsin fermented his wort in wooden fermenters and over time,
the particular yeast(s) for his beers would stick to the wood
and spontaneously ferment the next batch of wort. This, curiously,
was not known to Pierre! When Pierre first made his own Wit
Bier, he used a metal fermenter and didn't add yeast, because
Mr Tomsin, never did. Well, guess what, Pierre's first batch
didn't work.
So I tip my hat to a man, a friend, a giant in the craft beer
industry, a rock star in Belgium, and a human who can make beginner's
mistakes, just like the rest of us. Pierre, I miss you. |
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When Lindy Adams of Huntington Beach, Calif. got the chance
to meet Pierre Celis at Denver’s Falling Rock Tap
House during the 2006 Great American Beer Festival a handshake
wasn’t enough. “To me,” said Adams,
“he might as well be Johnny Depp.” |
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| Pete Slosberg is
the founder of Pete's Brewing Company and maker of Pete's Wicked
Ale. |
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