A Brief History of Belgian White Ales and White Rascal
By Andy Parker, Avery’s Chief Barrel Herder
Over the last twenty years we’ve received quite a bit of media attention for our experimental barrel-aging program, but it just so happens that our biggest sellers are rooted in tradition. That includes White Rascal, our Belgian-style White Ale (a.k.a. Witbier). And even though this particular style of beer has seen a worldwide resurgence over the last twenty years, and we’ve been making White Rascal for over fifteen, there’s a bit of confusion over what a Belgian-style White Ale is. This seems like the perfect time for a brief history of how an old-world traditional beer became a new world rock star, what goes into making it, and what it should taste like.
What is a Belgian White Ale/Witbier?
The traditional witbier is made from 50% malted barley and 50% unmalted wheat, uses only a small amount of hops for a light bitterness, and is spiced with orange peel and coriander. Most importantly, it is fermented with one of the recognized Belgian White yeast strains. These strains have been preserved over the years to create the signature aromas and flavors that define the style, primarily clove (4-vinyl-guaiacol) and banana (isoamyl acetate). A wee bit of that delicious yeast is left in the finished beer and the wheat contributes to the hazy white appearance. It’s notable that wheat on its own doesn’t contribute significantly to a beer’s flavor; it just so happens that certain flavorful yeast strains are frequently used with beers that have high wheat content.
With that said, many breweries have put their own spins on the Belgian White style. Some use malted wheat instead of unmalted. Some add oats for a silkier mouthfeel. Some use heavier or lighter spicing. Some add different spices that work well with the flavors derived from this yeast, such as lemongrass, cumin, cardamom, grapefruit peel, and so forth.
History
We know that the Belgian White/witbier style has been around for hundreds of years, but its popularity in Belgium declined after 1900. In the 1950’s the last commercial witbier maker in Belgium closed its doors in the town of Hoegaarden. Fortunately for us, a milkman named Pierre Celis had worked in one of the witbier breweries in that town and had enough knowledge of the style to start his own brewery in the 1960s. He named it Hoegaarden, and soon the style regained some popularity as their flagship beer shipped all over Europe. Hoegaarden soon became the gold standard of Belgian White Ales, though unfortunately the brewery burned to the ground in 1985. Pierre had to sell the rights of the beer to Interbrew, now known as AB-Inbev, who makes it to this day.
Since Pierre couldn’t make his witbier under the Hoegaarden name anymore, he started Celis Brewery in Austin, Texas. This was in 1992, when only a handful of craft breweries existed. He was making top tier beer and winning multiple medals in the early iterations of the Great American Beer Festival. Young craft beer drinkers talked about Celis White and Celis Grand Cru in hushed tones. Yet financially, Celis Brewery struggled, and they ended up selling the rights to Miller in 1995, who ended up closing the brewery and selling the rights six years later. The new owner was Michigan Brewing Company, who made Celis beers until they closed in 2012. In a final dramatic move, Pierre’s daughter Christine Celis bought the rights back and opened up a new Celis facility in Austin in 2017, where it continues to make their classic White as well as many new varieties.
Through all this, Belgian Whites did not fizzle out. Coors took notice and started making Blue Moon in 1995, and while it isn’t completely faithful to the traditional style, it has certainly raised the world’s awareness that these beers are out there. That awareness has helped to create a market where beers like White Rascal, Allagash White (Portland, Maine), Ommegang Witte, and the OG Hoegaarden can thrive.
History of White Rascal
Waaaaaaay back in 2003, Avery was making less than 5,000 barrels of beer each year and a good portion of that was Avery IPA. One day Adam Avery brought up the idea of making a Belgian White: a refreshing, flavorful style that very few American breweries were making at the time. Coors didn’t start making Blue Moon until 1995, same with Allagash, and the latter’s beer could only really be found in the northeast. We didn’t know if there would be a market for a traditional Belgian White, so we thought we’d start it out as a seasonal and did the standard brainstorming on names. Adam’s father Larry suggested Cloud Nine because of the hazy white appearance, but Adam’s idea of White Rascal and the mischievous devil won out. And when the first release of the beer flew off the shelves, we decided to make it full time. Within two years it was our second-best seller and eventually it overtook Avery IPA.
In trying to make the flavor profile true-to-style, White Rascal uses the commercially available version of the Hoegaarden yeast, as a balance of those yeast-derived clove and banana flavors are essential. We chose to use 50% malted wheat instead of unmalted because we felt that the wheat component itself contributed more to the light mouthfeel than the flavor and we knew our antiquated brew system could handle it. Then in the whirlpool we added freshly ground coriander as well as a blend of dried sweet orange peel for a moderate citrus aroma and a little dried Curaçao orange peel for a hint of bitterness.
While White Rascal sold well and helped fuel our growth, it wasn’t doing very well in the larger beer competitions. The most frequent criticism was that it was a little heavier on the spices than a traditional Belgian White. That changed in 2012 when White Rascal won a silver at the Great American Beer Festival, then again in 2015. Over the years, American brewers had developed a number of excellent witbiers and the boundaries of the category expanded a little to embrace more intensity of flavor. As such, great wits by Avery, Allagash, Ommegang, and Boulevard were winning multiple awards with their consistent takes on the style. And at the 2018 World Beer Cup White Rascal earned a silver medal with Hoegaarden taking a bronze, which was a huge testament to the amount of work we’d put into this beer over fifteen years. It’s always fun to win a medal at one of these competitions but winning multiple awards for the same beer is immensely satisfying for a professional beermaker. That doesn’t happen by accident.
White Rascal’s bottles and cans have gone through a couple of changes, and the original label’s devil bears more than a small resemblance to the design of the French aperitif Maurin Quina. Way back in 2003 we didn’t have a graphic designer. Obviously. A few years ago, we revamped all of our packaging and the Rascal on our cans and bottles these days looks a lot happier.
One last note… many beer drinkers associate a slice of orange on the rim of the glass with Belgian White Ales. That’s mainly from an advertising push by Coors and Blue Moon, but it’s purely optional. If you prefer a slice of orange, go ahead and use it to fight off scurvy. Personally, I don’t want that orange covering up any of the aromas and flavors we’ve worked so hard to put into White Rascal. Unless it’s time for a deliciously delicious Sunday morning beermosa, of course.
Cheers!
