Do You Feel Lucky?

(and feel free to comment! My older posts are certainly no less relevant to the burning concerns of the day.)

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Celebrating 100 Years of Shiner Bock

Who?

Shiner Bock, man! Hey! This is a good beer. I like it! Just had my first one.

Sometimes my mouth wants bam, and I know where to go for all kinds of that - but other times, hell, I'm just as big a fan of a smooth-drinking beer when the taste for something lighter hits. So I was just picking up a six of Bear Republic's Racer 9 IPA (more bam than which it is not advisable to try to get), when the clean and classic, yellow-gold friendly label and "100 Years!" display caught my eye and made me want to try a Shiner Bock. To give them their due, for keeping it real and keeping it right there in Shiner for all those years (per the label: "EVERY DROP OF SHINER...IS BREWED IN SHINER"). So I picked up a six of theirs, too - and glad I did!

Let me tell you about this beer: it has a good-tasting flavor to it! Good body! But the aftertaste is IMPOSSIBLE! It's just...gone. Poof! Like Keyser Söze. You're savoring a golden taste of good bock-style lager, and then the finish hits, and it's just - the vanishments. Damn, that's clean. That may be the cleanest finish I know. That's cleaner even than some of your major-label beers that taste like water to begin with!

Whereas if I didn't mention it: this one tastes pretty nice. Okay, it's not going to be elbowing aside one of my big, bold faves, but that's not where it stakes its game, either. This beer is a real winner in the light-to-middleweight category. Good job, Spoetzl Brewery, Est. 1909 in Shiner, TX.

Prohibition never quite entirely made it down to Tejas, apparently.

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