Talk:Hoegaarden

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I was under the impression that witbier simply means "white beer". After all, the Dutch word wit means "white", not "wheat" (that's tarwe in Dutch). You commonly hear people ask for a witteke (a "small white one") when ordering a witbier in pubs in Flanders. The French translation is bière blanche, which also means "white beer". Even the colour of the beer tends to be a cloudy white. D.D. 09:19 Jan 24, 2003 (UTC)
 * In Germany the terms "white beer" and "wheat beer" are used interchangeably. One may ask for either a Weissbier or a Weizen.


 * The original name for wheat beer is Weizen (En. wheat). My understanding is that the name Weissbier started as an alteration and/or abbreviation of Weizen. As often happens, words with similar sounds may be substituted for one another, and in this case there was even a justification for calling the beer white since it was cloudy and paler than traditional lagers, though not actually white.


 * I suspect that the name Weiss was carried into Belgium and France and translated directly. It's been about ten years since I read about Weizen/Weiss, so I'd encourage further elaboration or perhaps incorporating this history of names in entries for wheat beer.


 * There is a similar story regarding bock beer, which doesn't refer to a billy goat [Ger. ein Bock]. The beer was first brewed in Einbeck, Germany. In the local dialect the town's name was pronounced something like Einbock. "Einbock" sounds like ein Bock. Once goats started adorning the labels of beer bottles there was no going back. (Source: I Hear America Talking by Stuart Flexner, if memory serves.)--Rethunk


 * witbier does indeed mean "white beer," a description of the color of the beer. given belgium's rich history with beer, I tend to doubt that it's a corruption of the germam, although I suppose that's plausible. a Belgian French reference from 1798 refers to it as "bière blanche," which suggests that witbier was always "white," although I suppose the corruption could have occured long before that, considering beer is roughly as old as dirt.


 * the story about Bock is well-documented. Kajerm

There are also explicit "Tarwe" beers in Belgium. Like in Brugge. Since these types are pretty old, these terms probably even predate the current national languages.

Coat of arms
Does anyone know why the maniple is on the right arm in the Hoegaarden arms? Clergy wear the maniple on the left arm. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.16.79.193 (talk) 17:24, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Pronunciation
Is it really so that Hoegaarden the place is pronounced differently than the Hoegaarden beer/brewery. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Flammie (talk • contribs) 13:27, 9 April 2012 (UTC)