Shiner: A Beer Oasis in Small-town Texas
Located roughly 100 miles between San Antonio and Houston lies the small town of Shiner, Texas. On the less-often used alternate Highway 90, Shiner, famous for its Shiner beers, still has the small-town charm of rural America.
The town doesn’t have much, but rather just enough. A four-way intersection guided by the city’s only stop light sits in the middle of town. A gas station, grocery store and donut shop sit on three of the corners with a building long closed on the fourth.
Within the small town is an even more insular downtown. The classic main street has seen better days, but its old buildings house an opera house, a candy store and a gift shop. Also on the main street is the town’s only chain restaurant, a Subway. However located is under the green and yellow sign is another sign that reads “Café,” small indication of the charm the town has refused to let go.
In a town with a population just north of 2,000, it seemed as if a good chunk of them were seeking refuge from the mid-80 degree weather in Friday’s Fried Chicken, the town’s go-to greasy spoon with hometown favorite fried foods and full pies for purchase. Besides the fact it was only one of the handful of restaurants within 20 miles, the modest building housed a slice of simpler life.
The tallest building in the town outside of the chrome water tower, is St. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church, visible from nearly every side street, thoroughfare and entry way into Shiner. Built in 1920, the German architecture-styled cathedral would look more at home in Frankfort or Munich than a town in south-central Texas.
It’s obvious that Shiner is not only dedicated to Sunday mornings but also Friday nights. Shiner High School is accompanied by the school’s football field and is located just outside of town, overlooking the rolling countryside.
The school looks out of place, a freshly built limestone mecca that houses some of 2A’s finest athletes and students. Shiner’s dedication to the sport of football is on display. The field’s grass is a striking green that looks as if it had never even gone through the frigid winter. There was not a single piece of litter in sight and even the parking lot was painted with yard lines.
The rolling hills are what make south-central Texas special. High points on hilltops allow one to see for miles and miles. The hills are dotted with patches of blooming Indian paintbrushes and bluebonnets and speckled with herds of cattle. The smell is intoxicating through the open window of a pickup truck.
This town, as quaint as it may be, also has a wild side. Shiner is all about beer. In fact, Shiner’s most famous spot, the K. Spoetzl Brewery, is where one of the United States’ most widely distributed craft beer companies calls home. The brewery is a simple. A small white brick original building accompanied by massive distributing and brewing facilities reside on the property just west of Highway 95.
The purpose of most trips to Shiner is to stop in for a tour of the brewery, scheduled for every other hour in the off-season and every hour in summer. There, Norman Hirsch, a tour guide who was a charming, witty and information-filled as one who was eager to learn could hope for, led the way.
“This town is special,” Hirsch, a native of nearby Hallettsville said. “And it all starts here at this brewery.”
Hirsch told an in-depth detail of the town and provided me with Shine On: 100 Years of History, Legends, Half-truths and Tall Tales about Texas Most Beloved Little Brewery, a recollection of pictures, documents and stories.
When Czech and German immigrants moved to Shiner in the late 1800s, they were satisfied with the conditions for farming but still longed for a certain something from central Europe. Beer.
And while there was beer in the United States, and it was prevalent and cheap, it did not have the same taste as the pilsners, bocks and other types of much more flavor-filled beers that could be found in Bavaria, Bohemia, Moravia and other regions of central Europe.
In 1909, the townsfolk of Shiner pooled their money and established a brewery just off of Boggy Creek, and there they believed they would be able to brew the beer that they loved and the town would be better off because of it. However, the townsfolk did not have the brewing experience or correct touch to make a desirable beer.
For five years the town settled for their mediocre brew until 1914, when brew master Kosmos Spoetzl, a Bavarian native purchased the Shiner brewery in hopes of giving the town what it was desperate for. An experienced and well-respected brewer, who had made his German beers as far as Egypt and California, Spoetzl made his home in Shiner. There he created the recipe for the original Shiner Premium beer as well as others, including the world-famous Shiner Bock, all of which he named after the town.
Spoetzl’s creations were an immediate success. The town became known for the tasty brews and people would make their way to Shiner from nearby towns just to get a taste of what the buzz was all about. Spoetzl, himself, also became a hit with the townspeople. On Saturdays, he would drive around the countryside in a car loaded with beer and drop one off to the farmers working in their fields.
The success would only last for six short years, however, before Prohibition struck the United States. This would force the brewery to change its recipe. With Shiner Bock at around 5% alcohol by volume, the new regulations passed by the federal government, would force the beer to be at or below .05%.
The new creation or “near beer” would not last very long, with Spoetzl only brewing it for a short period of time. Spoetzl, instead, decided to find allies at the train station that would inform him when federal agents arrived in the town to conduct testing of his beer. At that point he would drain all of the brewery’s alcohol into Boggy Creek and resume brewing of the near beer for a time just long enough to please the federal agents. When they could not find significant amounts of alcohol and left town, Spoetzl would return to making his original recipe full-content beer.
For most of the Prohibition era, Shiner beer that could be bought in stores was not the near beer it was advertised to be. Instead it was as Spoetzl intended. After the ban on alcohol was lifted in 1933, the beer began to flourish once again. Shiner beer has remained true to its taste and colors over its 110-year history, with the Shiner brewery eventually being named “K. Spoetzel,” after Kosmos Spoetzl.
“Without Spoetzl, this place may not have made it,” Hirsch said. “The town of Shiner and all those who love our beer have no one more to thank than Kosmos Spoetzl.”
Today, Shiner makes 550, 000 barrels of beer per year and is distributed across 48 states, making it one of the largest craft beers in the country. In 1989, the Spoetzl brewery was purchased by The Gambrinus Company, an umbrella brand that owns breweries in multiple states. Today, The Gambrinus Company is one of the top-10 craft brewing companies and top-20 overall brewing companies in the United States, thanks in large part to Shiner beer.
The tour, itself, was everything you’d expect. From the massive metal kettles to the space-like copper brewing pots, to the artificial intelligence machines and robots that perform the bottling and packaging, all the inner workings of a Texas craft beer are on display.
A beer connoisseur’s favorite is likely to be the tasting room. With eight beers on display for tasting, a patron can choose four, some flavors of which are not available in stores. You can then drink samples at picnic tables set up in front of the original building and be accompanied by some friendly country music played through speakers.
Overall, Shiner, though small and off the beaten path, is an oasis not only of beer but comfort as well. Don’t expect the world if you make the trip to the town founded in 1887. But do expect to smile, be greeted by a warm handshake and cold beer, and a perfectly delightful way to spend a few hours on a sunny afternoon.
Citations:
Hirsch, Norman: Historian-K. Spoetzl Brewery. Shiner, Texas.
Renfro, M. (2008). Shine on: 100 years of history, legends, half-truths and tall tales about Texas most beloved little brewery. Houston, TX: Bright Sky Press.
