Today was a special day for a few reasons, and putting those reasons together gave me and my good buddy W a chance to do something that all good Texans must do at some point:
Visit the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, Texas. Makers of Shiner Bock and other Shiner-brand beers.
W drove in his new car (Pontiac G8 GXP… oooo so nice). We arrived early so we ducked off to a little restaurant in town for lunch. Very good food. I forget the name of the place, but it’s right by the train tracks in the history Green building (something like that). The lemonade was fresh squeezed and so tasty. W had one of their burgers. I had their pulled pork sliders. Mmmm… good stuff.
The Spoetzl Brewery's big copper tanks, used to brew Shiner beers.
Then back to the brewery and went on the free tour. Got to see how things were done. I was surprised to find out the company is small: only 65 employees. It’s technically still a “family owned/run” business, private, with a lot of employee retention; currently the longest employee has been there 42 years and that’s far from the company record (which I forgot). They have only one “line”. One set of big brass tanks where all the beers are brewed. Of course, a great number of storage/fermentation tanks. Then just a single bottling/labeling/packaging line. With as much beer as they produce you’d think it was a bigger operation, but it’s not. Just seems to run very efficiently, but yet they don’t sacrifice for it… neither in the quality of the beer, nor the quality of the employee lives. That is, they’re not running 24/7. They are closed on weekends, and the only thing that runs 24 hours is the brewing. It’s quite a nifty operation. Quite cool to see the bottling area… all those bottles whirring around, lined up, “marching” through. Yes, everyone had the Laverne and Shirley opening credits in their head.
The Spoetzl Brewery's smoker, used for smoking the malt for their Smokehouse beer.
After that, in the gift shop you’re given 4 wooden nickels that you can redeem for 4 samples of their beer. I kept one of them as a souvenier and traded in 3 for the Shiner Black (which is awesome), a Shiner Blonde (don’t tell my wife I like blondes!), and one of their new Shiner Smokehouse. I actually got to try the Smokehouse this past weekend and wasn’t too thrilled by the gimmick, but tasting it on tap both W and I could taste the smokiness much better. It’s not a bad beer, but honestly I’m not sure I’d normally drink it. I mean, if I’m already eating smokey BBQ brisket, do I really want to add more smoke to the equation? I do think its a neat beer, and I love the label, but I’m still most high on the Shiner Black and their famous Bock.
The Spoetzl Brewery is a Texas historic landmark. I visited during their Centennial celebration.
When I first came to Texas back in 1994, one of the first things I was told about was that I had to have a Shiner Bock. Then I recall the other grad students and even some of the professors and staff, we all talked about doing a trip to the brewery to take the tour. Well, finally 15 years later I got around to it. Glad I did. Good time, and gosh if it doesn’t make me want to drink more Shiner. Not a bad thing at all. 🙂
Updated: I forgot to mention. There’s a valid 51% sign. The sign is posted on the wall behind the “bar” area, where you get the free beer samples (it’s obvious). No posting of any sort at any door, not to the brewery, not to the gift shop… just behind the bar area (which is within the gift shop). Uncertain how to interpret that, but just reporting it. Take it however you wish.
Stuff From Hsoi 