FYI, from the World Wide Web site with the URL http://www.interport.net:80/witbeer/wit_3b.html > [Image] > > RISE, FALL AND REVIVAL IN EUROPE > > Beer of Wit's style was first produced in the eastern provinces > of Belgium over 500 years ago. At that time, before the universal > usage of hops in brewing, local brewers employed a wide variety of > ingredients to soften the bitter sourness that characterized their > primitive beer, which was primarily made with wheat and thus called > "witbier". The Flemish trade routes brought home oranges from Spain > and exotic spices from the East Indies. Some brave brewer one day > played with the odd mix of orange peel and coriander. The witbier that > resulted must have been very pleasing to the pallet. Before long > brewers all over Belgium were producing this new style. > By the 1800's, however, Belgian brewers increasingly turned to > hop spicing and barley based beers, and the popularity of witbier > diminished. Although no one knows for sure, there are probably several > causes for this development. Clearly the ascendance of hop based beers > in England and Germany had something to do with it. Technological > advances that showed wheat to be more useful in bread baking, and > barley in beer brewing, also contributed. Apparently an infection at > some point spread through wooden vessels and spoiled the yeast strains > required to produce the special taste of witbier. > Some time after the second world war, in fact, the last of the > original witbier breweries closed its doors. And the beer style was > actually extinct. > The world went without citrus and coriander spiced wheat beer for > nearly two decades. In the late 1960's, however, at the very beginning > of what would prove to be Belgium's own microbrewery revival, a local > milkman, who had grown up next to one of the last witbier breweries, > decided to resurrect the style. > By the mid 1980's several small breweries were marketing witbier > in the major cities of Belgium and Holland. Although the beer sold at > an expensive premium over more commonplace beers, demand developed > quickly in the fashionable bars and cafes of Brussels and Amsterdam. > By 1993, sales of witbier accounted for a full 5 percent of all > beer sales in Belgium and 2 percent of beer sales in Holland, easily > making witbier the fastest growing type of beer in Europe. Today more > than 40 brands of witbier compete in the Belgian and Dutch markets, > and virtually every establishment serving beer carries at least one > brand. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Go back [Image] > > Contact : [log in to unmask]