In Praise of Shiner Bock

I have been reading about this beer for years but have never seen it in a store here in NorCal.

While at the local grocery store, I was amazed to see two 6's on the shelf. being curious, I bougt them home for a taste.

I am very pleased.

Not as hoppy as I might like, but smooth, semi-full bodied (for the style) and downright tasty.

I can see what all the fuss is about.

I doubt it will be taking the place of my local brews but you folks from Texas can be rightfully proud.

Now Lone Star is a whole nother subject :cross:

Cheers,

knewshound

If you think lonestar is another subject, try some iron city!

I tried Shiner Bock on draft at a restaurant and I loved it! It's a fairly mild mannered beer but it sure went down easy. I could get used to drinking it on a regular basis for sure.

I've been pretty burned out on it for a while because it was one of the first and most popular non-bmc beers we could get for a while. I drank a lot of it back in the day, but then they changed their recipe and I moved on to bigger and hoppier things....

But I do like them to drink on the river where you can't bring bottles, they're the only canned beer we can get in OK that has any good flavor at all.

God Emporer BillyBrew said:

I've been pretty burned out on it for a while because it was one of the first and most popular non-bmc beers we could get for a while. I drank a lot of it back in the day, but then they changed their recipe and I moved on to bigger and hoppier things....

But I do like them to drink on the river where you can't bring bottles, they're the only canned beer we can get in OK that has any good flavor at all.

Click to expand...

I drank a couple in Tennesee last time I was there (October) but the Yazoo Double IPA caught my attention with aggression and I couldn't stop putting them down.

Shiner Bock was one of my first "real" beers, and I used to drink it all the time(always a better choice then the budmilcoors) but have since moved on to the bigger and tastier brews. Not to say I don't drink it, just not as much.

Now Ziegenbock, there is a great texas brew! May be bottled by the same people as Budwieser, but it must be done so on the opposite side of the factory, cause they are nothing alike! Both Shiner and Ziegen are a bargin price wise, so you can't go wrong with either.

Now back in the day Lone Star made a bock that was even better than Shiner, we all thought. Plus it was a buck cheaper per sixer.

brewmastaMike said:

Now Ziegenbock, there is a great texas brew!

Click to expand...

I grab a sixxer of Ziegenbock Amber every Friday afternoon. Very smooth, refreshing beer after I mow the yard, wash the cars, etc.

Also, the newer beers from Shiner are good, too.

Shiner Hefe is good. They also have a good kolsch and an excellent Dunkelweizen. The 96 is decent, too.

Shiner Bock is my favorite beer to go with Barbeque. Whenever I'm in Texas I always get brisket with a Shiner.

Shiner Bock is the best beer in Texas hands down. If you are a Texan and are overheard saying you DON'T like Shiner Bock, you may be run out of the state.

Shiner Bock is very good. Style guru's may poo-poo it in some cases but me thinks me not care about poo-poo'ers. At 4.4% ABV, it's a wonderful after mowing beer. Thank you Spoetzl brewery! (neck and neck and neck between Shiner's bock, Abita Amber and my Infidel amber on the rare occasion I don't f--- it up)

Despite living in Texas I don't like Shiner Bock. It has very little flavor despite its dark looking body. Their Hefeweizen tastes like they added some kind of artificial orange flavor to the beer (I liked this even less than the Bock).

I understand that they want to cater to the Texas palate and that most people from the state aren't looking for intensely malty bock, but their prices have crept up to the point where their beer costs as much as Sierra Nevada. For the same price I would prefer pretty much any beer from Sierra Nevada (or Real for that matter).

Texas has a lot of great breweries (Real, Live Oak, 512, Jester King) but I don't think that Spoetzl is one of them.

I've been drinking beer for several decades and, especially after having lived for quite some time in Germany and widely traveling all across Europe, I've tried, I dunno, probably more than a thousand different beers in my life. Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier is still my favorite.

I've tried Shiner Bock before, in bottles, several times about 15 years ago when visiting the US, and I liked it quite a lot. I don't have anything bad to say about it at all. If they'd sell some here in Finland, I'd buy it assuming the price wasn't sky high.

Wow, nice necro-post. :rockin:

Tutsbrew said:

... it's a wonderful after mowing beer.

Click to expand...

I think this is key.

If you go into it looking for a true Bock, you will be disappointed. A bock it is not. Really it's just a light lager with maltoferm added. But as a lawnmower beer, it's fantastic. Drinks smooth and goes down easy. It's like BMC, but with flavor.

I wouldn't consider it a "craft" brew by any stretch, but I still drink it on a fairly regular basis. It's good beer, for what it is.

hunter_la5 said:

I wouldn't consider it a "craft" brew by any stretch, but I still drink it on a fairly regular basis. It's good beer, for what it is.

Click to expand...

Probably doesn't hurt that you happen to live in one of the biggest German colonies in the US, either...

I have to say, Shiner Bock was one of the very first non-BMC beers I ever had, and whether or not you want to call it a "craft beer," it's a more accessible introduction into the world of better beer than a lot of others. Remember that all of us here take it for granted that beers like Pliney and vintage Bigfoot and barrel-aged sours are a good thing, but many folks' palates aren't acclimated to such strong flavors (especially bitter, which you all know is the first thing BMC drinkers comment on when you give them any craft beer). Even true pilsners can be too much for some folks at first, as they aren't expecting the more assertive hop character.

I know this because just a few years ago this was me. I had no exposure to anything except for drinking Budweiser and drinking-then-throwing-up MGD (which I believe to exemplify everything that is truly horrendous in macro beer). Then my roommate, who was a displaced Texan, discovered that the liquor store down the street sold Shiner Bock. He snatched up a few cases for us, and I have to say, it opened up my eyes. It might not seem like such a revelation now, but at that time, boy...so just like the thread title says, I'm more than happy to clink a glass in honor of the beer that brought me into the fold!