Pierre Celis - Brewer and Industry Icon and know for his many accomplishments is most know for resurrecting the beloved and once extinct Witbier / Bière Blanche Belgian White beer with the resurrection of Hoegaarden Brewery in Belgium. A fire at the brewery in 1985 forced Celis to bring in a partner Interbrew (now A-B InBev). After the rebuilding of the brewery and much pressure to change the original recipe in order to save money and make the beer more “marketable” Celis decided the sell the balance of his shares to Interbrew in 1987.

Celis Brewery - In 1992 with the growing popularity of craft beer in the U.S. Celis using a recipe for the Wit that was, he claimed, the original Hoegaarden. In order to aid in distribution, some of the original investors in the Celis Brewery sold a stake to Miller Brewing Company. After reaching its peak annual production of 24000 BBLS, Miller closed the Austin Brewery in 2001 as a cost saving measure. In 2002 Miller Brewing was sold by Phillip Morris to South African Breweries to form SABMiller who then sold the brewing equipment and the Celis® brand to Michigan Brewing Company.

Michigan brewing Co. - With the help of Pierre Celis (pictured right with Bobby Mason MBC President) Michigan Brewing Co. has taken great efforts to preserve all of the Celis® beers and continues to use the same techniques and original recipes Pierre developed over his lifetime. The same award winning beer the late critic Michael Jackson called “perfect” continue to be produced today.

Cheers!