What would YOU do with a Shiner?

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32Brew

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I have a question to throw out here: What would you do if you brewed a Shiner Bock clone?

I've taken up brewing, and although it's only been about 6 months, SWMBO has silently seen the brewing equipment (and debit card charges) stack up. I vowed I would do a brew for her, even though I knew it probably wouldn't be up my alley. Out all of the considerations, she chose a Shiner Bock clone. (she's not really a beer drinker, but more of a sweet wine drinker) It could have been worse, but I'll brew her choice. More importantly in this scenario, I'll be drinking the vast majority of this brew....she'll probably only drink a 12-pack out of a 5gal brew.

Thing is, I've been doing some thinking about this. What should I do? Should I stick to the 5gal recipe and suck it up til it's done? Should I only brew a partial recipe at 2 or 3gal and set it aside for eternity?

OOOOORRRRRR...:D Should I tweak the recipe (sub a few pounds of Munich/pils) to give it more flavor and claim "ohh babe, it's mah brewin' skillz that made it this gud!" so that it's more palatable to me (although not a clone at this point) considering I will end up drinking the considerable majority of this batch?

What would you do for your SWMBO's requests?
 
I made my better half an apricot/peach blonde (call it a fuzzy blonde) and she loves it. It was her birthday beer, and we are still enjoying it.

I say brew what she wants. It will keep her - and yourself - happy, and she won't mind your future brewing adventures as much. What do you have to lose?
 
strat_thru_marshall said:
Besides, whats wrong with Shiner? It might not be the worlds most flavorful craft beer, but it's a great easy drinker.
Ohh, don't get me wrong, I'll take a Shiner when I go out to eat when other choices are BMC, or craft at $8 a pop, BUT with Dopplebocks, IPAs, and sundry Belgians on my noob-brewer "to do" list, it's hard to let 5gal sit in a corner and take up the space of something such as a tasty Dunkelweizen
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32Brew said:
strat_thru_marshall said:
Besides, whats wrong with Shiner? It might not be the worlds most flavorful craft beer, but it's a great easy drinker. QUOTE]

Ohh, don't get me wrong, I'll take a Shiner when I go out to eat when other choices are BMC, or craft at $8 a pop, BUT with Dopplebocks, IPAs, and sundry Belgians on my noob-brewer "to do" list, it's hard to let 5gal sit in a corner and take up the space of something such as a Dunkelweizen
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Just pick up an extra fermentor or two so you can brew big beers alongside your session beers. High gravity beers are great...but sometimes you want to have 10 pints and watch the game. Try doing that with a Dopplebock :tank:
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Split the batch. Dry hop one half and leave the other half alone. All you need is an extra 3 gal Better Bottle and you're good to go.

This way, you can split it post fermentation so temperature won't be an issue.
 
If your woman is even remotly interested in your home brew, brew what she may like!

The rewards will be incredible.

Bull
 
TheBeerNerd said:
I like Shiner... I can drink about 20 of them in a sitting... send them to me :)
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I agree and I'm closer...hell, I'll even pick 'em up :D

BTW, not many brewers around here (despite the fact that our benefactor lives in SM....), PM me if you'd like to get together for a brew day :tank:
 
Let me put another perspective on it:

Say if she were to want to knit me a scarf, and she asked me what kind of scarf I wanted. I'd oblige her and say "gimme a blue one." Would I wear the scarf? Maybe once to say I did it...but the rest of the time it would hang in the closet.

Now what would work was if she, say, knitted something SHE'D be interested in too. THEN, she could wear it as often as she wanted to get some good use out of it too, but it would still be "mine."

See what I mean?
 
32Brew said:
Let me put another perspective on it:

Say if she were to want to knit me a scarf, and she asked me what kind of scarf I wanted. I'd oblige her and say "gimme a blue one." Would I wear the scarf? Maybe once to say I did it...but the rest of the time it would hang in the closet.

Now what would work was if she, say, knitted something SHE'D be interested in too. THEN, she could wear it as often as she wanted to get some good use out of it too, but it would still be "mine."

See what I mean?
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Don't brew for a disinterested SWMBO...I gave up. She can stand my Cream Ale (that I tracked down the recipe from a CO brewery and brewed for her), but is not really a beer fan. She gets sick of me talking about beer and brewing but puts up with it as my hobby. Brew it to see how close you can come, but brew what you like. I finally quit brewing for others tastes and just started brewing what I like...if my friends like it, awesome. If they don't, meh :D
 
WTF is wrong with Shiner Bock??? It's a pretty decent beer, in fact it was a gateway for me to actually explore other bocks, and even decide to research and brew my own. But I still gravitate back to it when I want a nice tasting decently priced commercial beer.

Or is it another one of those that we elitist beersnobs are supposed to hate, like Fat Tire? :rolleyes:

I think it's great that your wife shows some interest in your interests, a lot of them, if it's any indication of some of the complaints on here, don't. Some folks on here would kill to have their wife/partner/whatever be remotely interesting and or supportive. One wife even dumped salt in a guy's batch of beer, so you should count yourself lucky instead of bitching that her choice of beer is somehow inadequate....

So rather than being Oh so superior and trashing her choice of a beer, you should make her it. After all it's not about you, it's about her....so it shouldn't matter what beer she wants. It's called love, and doing things for the other person....

Women like it when we do nice, thoughtful stuff for them....Sometimes they like to give us sex, or look the other way when we do something stupid, like accidentally implying that her butt is too big.
 
32Brew said:
hmmmm...not a bad idea...what would you dry hop it with?
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I've had great luck with many different hop varieties for dry hopping, my favorites being Amarillo and Simcoe. Depends on what kinds of flavors you want.

Also, to everyone else, there's nothing wrong with Shiner Bock, it's just not very interesting. I guess I get bored easily when drinking the same old beer again and again.
 
ok.. on Fat Tire.... I liked it for a good while.. but the more I drank it the more I thought I tasted something that just isn't right... I like to attribute the off flavor to the olive oil yeast propogation but am not sure... I can't even really describe the flavor... I also cook.. a lot.. and I swear I taste the olive oil... am I crazy here? Just picked up on the we're not supposed to like Fat Tire... and I did.. but now don't... and would like to understand better why.
 
Fat Tire, Shiner, Sam Adams, whatever...great session beers, lucky that places that carry nothing else but BMC even have them. Nothing better on a hot day on the river. Homebrewers tend to condemn great session beers as less than adequate. I'm really tired of people bashing these beers that have paved the way for craft beers. Are they the most complex or interesting beers? Hell no!!! Do I want to drink a RIS or IIPA when it climbs to a hundred and f@%#ing fidy degrees in Texas?

HELL NO!!!! I want a Shiner Bock :mug:
 
theonetrueruss said:
ok.. on Fat Tire.... I liked it for a good while.. but the more I drank it the more I thought I tasted something that just isn't right... I like to attribute the off flavor to the olive oil yeast propogation but am not sure... I can't even really describe the flavor... I also cook.. a lot.. and I swear I taste the olive oil... am I crazy here? Just picked up on the we're not supposed to like Fat Tire... and I did.. but now don't... and would like to understand better why.
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I'm gonna go with you are crazy. I don't care for Fat Tire and think the flavor is off somehow, but I don't taste any olive oil. Also, while they experimented with using olive oil, they opted not to use it.

My advice on SWMBO. Brew what she wants at least this one time. Make five gallons and let her know you aren't half-a$$ing the thing she wants. Whether she likes it or not she'll be more supportive of your hobby.
 
BTW, my lovely wife drinks the Cream Ale and it is very popular with the BMC crowd when they don't care for the stuff I like to brew/ drink. I found hat I love having a lawnmower beer around and probably drank more than anyone of that first batch!!!...but even if you really don't like it, others will. Try a batch of Apfelwein as well :D
 
TANSTAAFB said:
Fat Tire, Shiner, Sam Adams, whatever...great session beers, lucky that places that carry nothing else but BMC even have them. Nothing better on a hot day on the river. Homebrewers tend to condemn great session beers as less than adequate. I'm really tired of people bashing these beers that have paved the way for craft beers. Are they the most complex or interesting beers? Hell no!!! Do I want to drink a RIS or IIPA when it climbs to a hundred and f@%#ing fidy degrees in Texas?

HELL NO!!!! I want a Shiner Bock :mug:
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Not to knock on Shiner but I think an IIPA is refreshing when it's a hundred and f@%#ing fidy degrees in Texas.:D

The extra hop bitterness really cuts through heat, kind of like a Gin and Tonic.

Getting back to the OP. If you're going to dry hop, I wouldn't use anything citrusy for a Shiner clone. Maybe Fuggles or Willamette, they're a little more like what I would expect in a hopped up bock.
 
theonetrueruss said:
ok.. so I'll have to drink some more Fat Tire and figure out what it is I don't like about it.
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I like Fat Tire as a session beer, but I do have to admit that I find New Belgium's house flavor more and more distracting. It tastes like lactose to me.
 
Make 5 gallons.

I don't like Shiner because they use twist off bottles and the brewery tour was really boring. It's "over there is the lab, these are the boil kettles, but don't touch them, and now let's watch them bottle through a window."

Otherwise it's a decent session beer. It's one of the very few non-BMC beers you can find in cans that can go on the lake/river/etc.
 
Wow. Didn't think I'd offend people over Shiner.

First, I never said there was anything WRONG with Shiner Bock...or those who like it. I just don't like it much. Maybe it was burnout from college. Maybe I know there are vastly more bigger and better things. It has nothing to do with being a beer snob. I also dislike beers with fruit in them or chocolate either. Does that qualify me as a beer snob, or a beer drinker with poor taste, or "oh so superior?" No, it's personal preference, and I don't like Shiner much....now their Black Lager-scwharzbier, I like (smooth with a touch of roast)...and, yes, I do like Fat Tire.

And for the record, my wife doesn't like my new-found interest. I'm actually trying to appease her so she DOESN'T dump salt in my beer, (lol, saw that thread.) I asked her what brew she wanted. I know her well enough that she responded in a way that she wants to appease me. She knows I want to make ammends with her because she's not keen on beer. So, what it boils down to is: can I make a tastier Shiner? I'm trying to make the best of an "iffy" situation Maybe throw in some Munich or sub some pils. Maybe dryhop part of it. Those where the kind of repsonses I was hoping for. I know her well enough to know she will drink a 12 pack..say, 'ehh'..and leave me with the rest. And well, as I stated, I don't like Shiner much. Just as I listed in the scarf knitting scenario....would I tell her that I think scarf knitting is rediculous? No, I'd say, 'yes honey, make me a blue one.' Just as she's said, "yes honey, make me a Shiner."

Furthermore (Revvy), I know a bit about love and what it entails. I'm blessed to have a wonderful wife, and just because she doesn't have the same taste in beer that I do doesn't mean I'm doing a disservice to her. I'm surely "count[ing my]self lucky instead of bitching.." Look-- I know you have forgotten more about beer than I know. I know you have much knowlege and experience about brewing. I'm ecstatic about my new hobby, and I'm doing what I can to learn about it more and make better beer. I've also seen you flame (ignorant) newbs several times in posts, and I know the internet can mask sarcasm, but maybe calm down a bit. Maybe I'm not taking my wife for granted. Maybe I'm not a beer snob. And maybe I'm just asking, "how can I make my Shiner tastier?"

So, with that in mind----how can I make my Shiner tastier?
 

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