The Little Brewery In Shiner, Texas

Just up the road from San Antonio, Texas is the little brewery in Shiner, Texas. Ok, maybe it is more than a little ways up the road, but the Spoetzel Brewery is not far from many towns in Central and South Texas. Spoetzel had been one brewery that I had wanted to visit for a while and just never got a chance. My chance came during San Antonio Beer Week last month.

San Antonio’s oldest brewpub, Blue Star Brewing Co, had arranged two tours from San Antonio to Shiner that week and I had to jump on one of them. We started out at around 9:30 in the morning after a quick breakfast courtesy of Blue Star. Around 30 of us boarded the bus and took the 90 minute bus ride Shiner, Texas located in Central Texas, we arrived around 11:15. We were greeted in the lobby by Anne Raabe, who handles public relations at the brewery.

Photo Courtesy of the Shiner Chamber of Commerce

As the tour started, Anne explained a few interesting details about Shiner, Texas: there are very few traffic signals in town, only 3 elevators (one of which is at the brewery) and the town has the same feel it must have had back in the 1950’s. The brewery opened in 1909, by the then newly formed Shiner Brewing Association. Though it wasnt until 1914 when Kosmo Spoetzel was brought in as brewmaster by the Association, and the brewery was later re-named the Spoetzel Brewery in 1950. The brewery remamed much the same as it was when it first opened, we were told, until around 1994 when upgrades and renovations occurred. Just by looking around, it still seems as if not a lot has changed!

A quick ride up the elevator in question and our first sight is the most beautiful things a brewery can have: its copper brewery vessels. These vessels handle the various stages of the brewing process, such as the mash, lautering and boil. They are gorgeous and date back to before prohibition. Just then Peter Takacs, Shiner’s Lab QC manager, came on by to discuss a few details of the brewing process. Takacs advised us that Shiner Bock, Spoetzel’s flagship beer was just a season beer until 1973. Shiner Blonde was actually the original recipe. Spoetzel conducts eight brews per day, often brewing around the clock. Spoetzel’s ‘Kosmos Reserve’ series is brewed on this equipment.

Photo Courtesy of Central Texas South

After drooling over the beauty of the equipment, we were ushered over to the bottling room. This place was amazing and huge. The bottling line handles approximately 635 bottles per minute and is constantly moving. Spoetzel cans as well, and puts out around 20,000 cases each day. It is always quite a site at many breweries to see the bottling in action. Every machine has its own task and they all work in harmony with each other. I had never seen canning done before and was amazed at the process.

Our next stop was to be the brewery tasting room and gift shop. Along the way we got a great view of many of the fermentation tanks. Raab advised us the production has increased so much in the last few years, that they had to bring in new tanks earlier this year from Europe. If things keep looking up, there will be more on the way. In the tasting room, we were treated to three small samples of various Shiner beers. I had the Shiner Black Lager, Ruby Red Bird (a lager brewed with red grapefruit and ginger) and Shiner 102, a double wheat beer.

Our tour was coming to an end, but one more surprise was in store for us. On the way out of town, we stopped at the Shiner Restaurant and Bar, and were treated to lunch which included the famous Shiner bread and their signature butter made with the Black Lager. A great lunch and a couple of beers later, we were back on the road to San Antonio.

After finally getting to Shiner to visit the brewery, I will be coming back again and to should too. This is a great little town with much to offer those passing through or coming for a day trip. There are several great Bed and Breakfast’s where you can stay, like The Old Kasper House, if you’d like to put your feet up for a bit. Stop by the brewery for a tour and stay in a town that still practices the same hospitality that Kosmo Spoetzel did when he brought beer out to the local field workers.

Resorts And Lodges