[Insert Beer] Wins [Insert Beer] Style Award

I have no real complaint over the 12,474,832 awards that are handed out for beers every year. I have never paid any attention to these things when making beer selection decisions – though, to be fair, when a label mentions a claim to one of them I think of it as red flag worthy of further investigation. “Antwerp 1931” only makes me wonder what the hell they’ve been doing for the last 76 years?!?!

But that is nowhere near as fun as this one, the beer that won the its own beer-style award:

Hoegaarden, the Original Belgian White Beer, was awarded its fourth consecutive World Beer Cup Gold Medal in the Belgian-Style White (or Wit)/Belgian-Style Wheat category at the 2008 Brewers Association World Beer Cup competition held recently in San Diego, Calif.

Don’t get me wrong – I am quite happy to have a Hoegaarden any time it is stinking hot. And I love most of its descendants the wittes and whites – except maybe for that one from Brouwerij Sint-Jozef…four years have not been enough to drive the furniture polish taste out of my memory. But, as mentioned and half of you will know, this is like awarding Adam the Annual First Guy Award. Hoegaarden is the defining standard and originator of the Belgian-Style White (or Wit)/Belgian-Style Wheat (aka 16A) which, oddly enough, comes from the place called Hoegaarden. It’s actually quite Hoegaarden-esque and, if Unger is to be believed, is one last legacy of the proud independent principality (or whatever) of Hoegaarden which lived as itself quite happily since the middle ages and subsisting on something they called “beer” that we call Hoegaarden.

So well done, Hoegaarden. You are the very essence of yourself.