Shiner Hefeweizen Review

Brewery: Spoetzl Brewery | Beer: Shiner Hefeweizen
Style: Hefeweizen | ABV: 5.60%
Serving Method: 12 oz. Bottle poured into pint glass

The first thing I ever noticed about this beer, back when I was first starting to appreciate great beer, was the bizarre graphic of two men sharing the same head (or is it just one man?). Turn the graphic one way and its a wistful chap reminiscent of Phil Collins in a dirty suit after being dumped. Turn it the other way and he’s happy, but looks much less like Phil Collins. The sad chap is pouring a bottle of beer upwards to the happy one. I guess that’s why he’s sad; not because he was dumped but because gravity stopped working right and stole his beer.

I absolutely loved it, I had to have this beer! True, buying a beer based sheerly on it’s labeling is not a smart move; I’ve learned that the hard way. Luckily for me (and Shiner) this time I was not disappointed, I’ve been a big fan ever since. A few years back, Shiner changed the label design to a different interpretation of the one-headed-men concept, this time more stippled with the happy guy wearing a polo shirt.

While visiting my local supermarket a couple weeks back, I noticed a new Shiner design. Once I reached the six-pack my heart sunk as I realized that it was Hefeweizen and the weird little graphic was gone for good. The new design is very bold and colorful and really fits the flavor profile of the beer. But all of this is about a label, who cares, the important stuff is inside.

Shiner Hefeweizen is brewed in the Bavarian wheat beer style that is Hefeweizen. The beer is unfiltered, unpasteurized and brewed with Texas clover honey, and both lemon and orange peels. This makes the beer very unique, especially when compared to the other offerings I can find at local gas stations. Hefeweizen has earned many awards, including a gold medal at the 2002 World Beer Cup for specialty honey lager or ale.

Appearance: Pleasantly cloudy straw to pale orange body with a decent off-white dimpled head that dissipates rather quickly leaving a decent amount of lacing (Note: The sunset light in the above picture makes the beer appear more yellow that it appears in normal light)

Aroma: Sour citrus dominates, with some faint sweetness on top of a subtlety hoppy and grainy body

Taste: Very crisp and tart with huge citrus notes (that linger well into the aftertaste) with slight hints of the added honey - the hops and wheat are very much in the background here

Mouthfeel: Fizzy and a bit thin, but that’s what you are looking for in a summer’s day thirst quencher like this

Drinkability: This a great beer for Texas summers: goes down easy, refreshes and has a moderate ABV so you can keep drinking all afternoon

Verdict: Sour citrus flavors absolutely dominate this beer, so if you aren’t a fan of those flavors you probably aren’t going to like Shiner Hefeweizen much. If you happen to like sour citrus flavors though, you’re going to find a great refreshing beer that is quite affordable (depending on where you live). I’ve always have a fondness for this beer, and although I will always miss the creepy guy(s) on the label, the beer still doesn’t disappoint me. A

Shiner Bock Review

Brewery: Spoetzl Brewery | Beer: Shiner Bock
Style: Bock | ABV: 4.40%
Serving Method: 12 oz. Bottle poured into pint glass

The Spoetzl brewery was founded in 1909 in the town of Shiner, Texas by German immigrants looking to recreate the beers they were used to at home. The brewery is named after the second brewmaster and long time owner Kosmos Spoetzl. Today, Shiner brews up a healthy portfolio (reviews of all Shiner beers to follow) with Shiner Bock as the flagship product. We learned about the Bock style a few posts back in the review of Saint Arnold Spring Bock. We also learned that there is some contention as to what classification this beer even belongs to. But while this may in reality be an American Dark Lager, for now we’ll go with the brewer and call it a Bock.

Full disclosure: I drink a lot of this beer. Living in the Houston area, Shiner Bock is my faithful stand-by. I don’t always have the luxury of buying my beer from a specialty shop, or even high-end grocer. In fact, I end up having to buy a lot of beer from *gasp* gas stations. This is where Shiner (people mostly refer to Shiner Bock as simply “Shiner”) comes in. In an endless sea of macro lights, Shiner is the only decent beer to be found in many grocery stores, gas stations and skeezy bars in the area. Funnily enough, at many restaurants in the area, it’s even featured on the “import” list. Oh, Texas.

Appearance: Clear medium brown body with white head that fizzes out quickly, leaving moderate lacing

Aroma: Medium roasted malt body with vague hints of hops in the background

Taste: Roasted malt and caramel notes with a little booze and that famous metallic curve-ball at the end - nice caramel aftertaste

Mouthfeel: Quite dry and clean with moderate carbonation

Drinkability: I can personally assure you, Shiner can be drunk in large quantities over the course of a night

Verdict: This is certainly not the greatest beer in the world, nor the greatest Bock. Hell, as we saw in that Saint Arnold Spring Bock review, it might not even be a Bock. But still, I have a very warm place in my heart for Shiner Bock. It rescues me time and time again out in here the outback of American beer culture.

Just last weekend, I was attending a wedding, dreading choosing between choosing either tea or Bud Light after Bud Light. Then, out of nowhere my spirits lift when I hear the golden words: “They have a keg of Shiner.” I’m proud to say at my upcoming wedding, we will be having a keg of Shiner, too. Though, to be fair I’ll also have a secret stash of some higher-end beers. I guess that’s about the most perfect metaphor for this beer I could have come up with. B-

I’m sure you have your own regional beers, that while not exactly world-class, seem to keep ending up in your hand weekend after weekend. Leave a comment and let me know.

Anchor Steam Review

Brewery: Anchor Brewing Co. | Beer: Anchor Steam
Style: Steam/California Common | ABV: 4.90%
Serving Method: 22 oz. Bottle poured into pint glass

It doesn’t take much digging into the history of the craft-brewing movement to run into Fritz Maytag and his Anchor Brewing Company. In 1965, Maytag rescued the failing sixty-nine year old Steam Beer Brewing Company. While he had no prior experience in the brewing world, through sheer drive and determination Fritz was able to turn the brewery around, in the process renaming it after its most popular beer.

Rather than chase the mega-brewers, Anchor decided to position itself as a traditional brewery using traditional ingredients to court the more discriminating beer drinkers that pined for authenticity. Fritz Maytag was a true pioneer in the craft-brewing world, helping to start a revolution we can all be thankful for.

The flagship Anchor brew is Anchor Steam, which happens to be the quintessential Steam beer. Steam beer dates back to the mid-1800s, when settlers in California improvised a way of brewing beer with lager yeasts at warmer ale temperatures. The style we now know as Steam beer is really California Common beer. Anchor Steam typifies the style and as it evolved from traditional Steam beer the California Common style came into being.

Appearance: Clear orange/amber body with a huge and off-white craggy head that leaves decent lacing

Aroma: Caramel and toasted malt ride atop more subtle hops and lemon notes

Taste: Quite bitter up front with rich toasted malt, caramel, banana, and citrus right behind - this is a full-bodied beer

Mouthfeel: Smooth with a good amount of carbonation, leaves a nice grain-like aftertaste

Drinkability: While you can’t doubt the boldness of this beer, it’s still wonderfully sessionable

Verdict: This beer easily earns its status as an absolute legend by being both crucial to the revival of American beer and downright delicious. We owe this beer a lot, buy some and enjoy a few pints of your history. A

Saint Arnold Spring Bock Review

Brewery: Saint Arnold Brewing Co. | Beer: Spring Bock
Style: Bock | ABV: 6.40%
Serving Method: 12 oz. Bottle poured into pint glass

After a couple of diversions, we return to a beer from the Saint Arnold Brewing Company. My initial plan was to review around five of Saint Arnold's offerings in a row to give a nice (uninterrupted) profile of the brewery. Well, life has a funny way of getting in the way sometimes, but we're back on track (for now).

Next up, we have another of the brewery's seasonal offerings, Spring Bock. Compared to its fellow bottom-fermenters, the bock style of lager is strong and requires a few more weeks of lagering (cold storage). It originated in medieval Germany as a beer to celebrate Spring and mark the end of the brewing season. In German, bock means billy-goat, explaining why so many bock labels (although not this particular one) prominently feature goats.

Saint Arnold introduced Spring Bock in 1998 as the company's second foray into the world of lager. The beer is brewed with five kinds of malt (no adjuncts) and won a silver medal in its class at the 1998 World Beer Cup. In their description of the beer, Saint Arnold delivers a pretty overt dig at their rivals down the road in Shiner:

"By law in Germany, to call a beer a bock it must be brewed to a high starting gravity and thus to a high alcohol content. Our beer follows these guidelines. There are many beers in the United States that use the term "bock" for their beers which aren't really bocks. They may be perfectly good beers, but they're not bocks. They are just dark colored light bodied American lagers."

Ouch. They do have a point though, Shiner Bock weighs in at a paltry 4.4% ABV, while Spring Bock has a decisive advantage at 6.4% ABV. Let's see if the beer lives up to the smack-talk.

Appearance: Clear copper body with a decent creamy head that dissipates quickly

Aroma: Nice balance of malt and hops with just a tinge of booze

Taste: Roasted malt and citrusy hops dominate weaker tones of dark fruit, grains and nuts with the alcohol slipping in right at the end

Mouthfeel: Creamy and smooth with a good amount of carbonation

Drinkability: Goes down smoothly with a nice bitter aftertaste, I could easily drink a few of these despite the alcohol content

Verdict: Spring Bock is a well-balanced dark lager with rich malt and crisp citrus hiding above-average potency. With this beer Saint Arnold is really forcing me to rethink my standards for a good bock, and I love them for it. A-

Redhook ESB Review

Brewery: Redhook Ale Brewery | Beer: ESB
Style: Extra Strong/Special Bitter | ABV: 5.77%
Serving Method: 12 oz. Bottle poured into pint glass

Redhook Ale Brewery is a 360,000 barrel per year operation with breweries on both coasts. It was founded in 1981 by Paul Shipman and Gordon Bowker and is therefore one of the oldest brands in the American craft-brew scene. Anheuser-Busch (gasp!) now owns a minority share of the company, allowing for a proper distribution network. Let's hope that's all they're contributing to the company.

This extra strong (or "special," depending on your location) bitter, titled simply ESB, is their 20+ year old flagship brew. Redhook has been implementing some new marketing tactics, and this beer was not spared the designer's brush. The new label is quite a departure from the thoroughly "80's West-coast craft-brew" number it replaced. What really matters though, is what exactly is inside the snazzy new exterior. (Hint: it's beer)

Appearance: Somewhat cloudy orange/amber body with thin fizzy head and nice effervescence

Aroma: Floral hops over caramel malt with notes of crisp citrus and green apple

Taste: Bitter floral hops dominate over caramel malt, citrus, tea, and spices

Mouthfeel: Coats well with good carbonation

Drinkability: Easily drinkable and refreshing

Verdict: Redhook ESB is a very drinkable and complex bitter ale. Don't be spooked by the new packaging, this beer is still a world-class icon. I can see enjoying a few rounds of this in a beer garden during a sunny Saturday afternoon or in a pub with some mates on a Saturday night. I guess the takeaway here is that this is a great beer for Saturdays. B

Breckenridge Avalanche Ale Review

Brewery: Breckenridge Brewery | Beer: Avalanche Ale
Style: American Amber Ale | ABV: 5.41%
Serving Method: 12 oz. Bottle poured into pint glass

Breckenridge Brewery is a small outfit founded in 1990 by Richard Squire in (surprise) Breckenridge, Colorado. A bottling operation followed in 1996 and today churns out 30,000 barrels a year. I picked up a six-pack of their flagship brew based on its slick packaging and Colorado origin expecting another complex amber ale from the Centennial State.

Appearance: Clear amber color (as you would expect) with ruby tones and a thin head that evaporates quickly

Aroma: Grainy light malt with toffee, caramel and citrus undertones

Taste: Very thin and watery, grainy and somewhat malty with a non-hoppy bitterness

Mouthfeel: Flat, thin and watery

Drinkability: I probably wouldn’t be ordering another one of these

Verdict: Pretty weak stuff. It almost seems like a fake craft-brew, I keep looking for a hidden Anheuser-Busch logo somewhere. Bland, flat, and rather soulless, Breckenridge Avalanche is forgettable in every sense. D

Saint Arnold Fancy Lawnmower Review

Brewery: Saint Arnold Brewing Co. | Beer: Fancy Lawnmower
Style: Kölsch | ABV: 4.90%
Serving Method: 12 oz. Bottle poured into pint glass

This is the second Saint Arnold offering in a series featuring my local microbrewery. Buying local beer both greatly reduces the carbon footprint of your pint and puts your dollar in the pocket of a local company. For the next beer I decided to jump to the opposite end of the spectrum. The Lovibond spectrum that is, har har.

Launched in 2000, Fancy Lawnmower quickly became one of Saint Arnold's signature beers. The beer is an award-winning Kölsch, having racked up one gold and two bronze medals in the Great American Beer Festival. The ingredient list reads pale malted barley, pale wheat, German Hallertauer hops and a type of top fermenting ale yeast that happens to ferment at lager temperatures. I have to admit, even though this beer is a Houston icon, I've never tried it. Let's see how it stands up.

Appearance: Golden, cloudy and effervescent with a thin head that dissipates quickly

Aroma: Floral and bitter, almost reminds me of sparkling apple cider

Taste: Crisp and bitter with citrus hints

Mouthfeel: Not as fizzy as its appearance led me to believe, cuts nicely

Drinkability: Somewhat bitter, but would be perfect for a hot Texas afternoon

Verdict: While Kölsch is not one of the styles of beer I usually reach for, this is certainly a beer I can enjoy. If I was outside in the heat at a ballgame, this would be an almost perfect choice. B-