but not the kind my friend Jim got doing some acrobatics on the Harvest Moon Regatta to Port Aransas. I'm talking about the beer brewed by Spoetzel Brewery in Shiner, Tx. K. and I went there last Friday on the way up to visit her parents. We missed the brewery tour at 11:00 by about 10 minutes, but they were kind enough to give us and a few other tardy beer lovers a short visit to the bottling facility.
As I watched the hundreds of bottles of amber goodness flow along their conveyors, I noticed a large quanity of sudzy liquid flowing through drains in the floor. "Surely, not!" I thought. I was about to ask the tour guide why all that beer was flowing on to the floor, where it was going and why it was being wasted, and how could they do that, etc...when someone else (for a change) asked the stupid question. "It's not beer, it is a lubricant to help the bottles move along the conveyor", said the guide. Apparently it was returning to a tank for reuse. I think there were several of us in the room who were relieved to hear that.
Spoetzel Brewery gives free beer tastings in small amounts, perhaps 6oz, at their gift shop/tasting room. They had Shiner Bock (of course); Shiner Lite, which is the only lite beer I'll drink and pay money for (Free Lite beer is another matter); Hefeweisen (pronounced hef-AH-vay-zen) a wheat beer, brewed with orange and lemon peels; Shiner Blonde, their premium lager; and their "97" brew, an annual specialty commemorating their years in business. (They are working towards 100.) All good brews. After the tour we found a good restaurant called Weiner's and had some of the best Chicken Fried Steak I've ever found. They use real steak, not cubed steak, which seems to me be sort of a waste, but nevertheless, it went down well with a Shiner Bock. Maybe someday I'll retire to Shiner.
As an aside, I've remembered an incident from a few years ago where Shiner Bock played a key role. I was single and had a blind date with a lady. We were to meet at a Saltgrass Steakhouse for dinner. I arrived, went to the bar, and ordered a Shiner Bock. She showed up a few moments later and we went outside to wait for our table. She said, "I see you're not drinking a local beer." This was before St. Arnold was around or at least before they were widely known. I said something like "Well, it's as local as I can get. Is there a local beer available?" She replied "Budweiser."
Silence.
Astonishment.
Confusion.
Disappointment.
"BUDWEISER?!" I said to myself. I wondered if I had suddenly been transported to St. Louis, 1910. The confused look on my face gave it away and she told me about their brewery on the east side of town and that she worked there as some sort of floor operator, or manager or something. The notion of dating a girl who worked in a brewery was attractive, but why did it have to be Budweiser, and why did she have to be so loyal to them? Oh well, I thought , there are other fish in the sea. We had a nice time despite her belief as to what constitutes a local beer, and of course the relationship never went beyond a couple of dates.
The moral of that story (if there is one) is that there is no way I could have gotten involved with someone who thinks that Budweiser beer is a local beer.
Even if if were manufactured next door to my house it could never be local.
Local, in addtion to being brewed within driving distance, means it's not available everywhere in the world. Local means it's different from every other thin yellow wash that Budweiser is the epitomy of. Local means it will always have some flavor and/or a color other than a very light yellow.
If Saint Arnold were not here, Shiner would be what I would consider the best local beer.
The folks at St. Arnold summed it up well the last time I was at their brewery for a tour/tasting: "Life is too short to drink bad beer".
My favorite local beer is almost anything made by Saint Arnold brewery. The fact they are a local brewery is important to me - That's one scar on the face of this country still remaining from prohibition. Not very many local breweries, but that is slowly changing.
But I really don't like their Lawnmower beer which is a Kolsch style. Perhaps I just don't care for Kolsches? When I tried it I definitely got the taste of skunkiness. I haven't liked it since, and haven't tried it. Perhaps I just got a bad six pack? I got this in their E-newsletter:
"FANCY LAWNMOWER BEER WINS GABF MEDAL - AGAIN
Yippee!! We won! We won another medal at the Great American Beer Festival. This year it was a bronze medal for Fancy Lawnmower Beer in the Kölsch category (43 entries). This is the second medal for this beer, having also earned the same medal in 2000. This brings our GABF medal total to 10 over the past 8 years, keeping us the second most winningest microbrewery during this span. This also keeps our streak alive of winning a medal every year from either the GABF or the World Beer Cup going back to 1998. OK, we're done bragging now."
I'm glad they won, of course - Rooting for the home team is a time honored tradition, but why couldn't it have been for their Ellissa IPA, or another one of their beers I actually like?