Pull up a chair and I'll tell you a little story. It's a story of a young man, a Belgian man, a working man named Pierre Celis. Pierre worked in a brewery in Belgium, the last brewery that produced a beer known as Witbier, or white beer. This was a special beer, brewed with wheat and seasoned with curacao orange peel, coriander and a secret ingredient. One day, the brewery closed, and no one was brewing the Witbier anymore. But Pierre loved the style, and didn't want to see it die. So he worked and saved and opened De Klius Brewery and revived Witbier with Hoegaarden Wit, named for the town where he brewed as a young man. Demand for the style grew, and Pierre was a successful brewer. But Pierre didn't want to rest on his laurels, and he looked west to the new world, to America, where true beers were making a comeback, with many enthusiasts looking for both new and traditional styles. Pierre wanted to bring his Witbier to America, so he went where everyone goes, to Texas, specifically Austin, and built a second brewery, Celis Brewery.

Pierre brewed Celis White, and people loved it. All over the country beer lovers sought it out, and Pierre's new hometown of Austin was very proud of the beer. Pierre also introduced other beers, but the White was everyone's favorite. Pierre couldn't keep up with demand, so he decided to find help. In a sense, Pierre turned to the devil.

About the same time the Celis was gaining popularity, so was Redhook, a brewery from the Northwest. Redhook needed help, both with cash to expand and distribution. They, too, turned to someone unexpected; Anheuser-Busch. AB bought 25% of Redhook, agreed to distribute it, and gave two board seats to the gentlemen who founded Redhook.

Pierre looked at this and thought it might be a good idea. But he turned to someone else: Miller Brewing. Miller looked at Celis and made a slightly different offer; for partial ownership of the brewery, Celis gets access to distribution, and Miller has options to buy-out Celis.

Time moved on. Celis grew in popularity, and the microbreweries flourished. Though AB wasn't bothered by this, this troubled Miller. So Miller decided to buy out Celis. Pierre left Austin, and Austin was nervous. Shortly thereafter, Miller shut down all the specialty breweries they had bought, including the much loved Celis Brewery. The reason: they weren't profitable enough. They were profitable, mind you, just not enough.