What do you think about Shiner?

[Kent Wang]

What do you think about Shiner, especially the flagship Shiner Bock? Here in Texas, it is the lowest common denominator of beer; you'll always be welcome at a party if you bring a case of Shiner. If you bring Miller or Bud others might think you are either very poor or just have poor taste -- and this is not just from the beer snobs, most everyday people will ask "Why didn't you bring Shiner? It's only a few dollars more." Do you have a non-macrobrewery, lowest common denominator beer in your part of the country?

The export of Shiner to the rest of the country and the elevation of its status is a bit strange to Texans. It's particularly frustrating to find that more and more bars are classifying Shiner as a fancy or import beer and charging import prices.

The above questions are strictly about the perception and popularity of Shiner. As for its taste, I'm not really fond of lagers so I would never buy Shiner for myself, but I do buy it often to bring to parties.

[lesfen]

Mmmm... Shiner Bock. My husband's family lives in Texas and I tried it for the first time about two year ago. I really, really liked it and rejoiced when they brought it to Ohio a year ago. I'm over it now. It is treated and priced like an import or a micro here and when you order it at a bar, the bartender asks you what part of Texas you're from.

We have quite a few local brews around here but the only one that I can stomach is Great Lakes Dortmunder.

Edited February 16, 2006 by lesfen (log)

[Bill Miller]

I keep it for friends. I usually drink wine or a cocktail but enjoy a Beck's dark with my occasional Rueben.

[eje]

We get Shiner here; but, I have yet to try it. Looks like it is around $6.50 for a sixer.

There's too much good local beer here, to gamble with my weekend beer money, and it's too expensive for slug bait.

Now if we got Celis in these parts, that would be a different story.

(Though, strangely, it appears Celis is now brewed in Michigan!?)

edit - fixed some grammar and tried to be funnier.

Edited February 15, 2006 by eje (log)

[BrentKulman]

What do you think about Shiner, especially the flagship Shiner Bock?

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It's not a true Bock, that's what I think. But I suspect its partisans wouldn't recognize any of the Bock styles, anyway.

It's a step up from a macro lager, but nothing I would seek out as I don't care for most of the lager beer styles, except, of course, for true Bocks.

Edited February 15, 2006 by BrentKulman (log)

[cdh]

Back when I was living in Austin in the late 90s, Celis was still open and brewing, so Shiner was second choice for cheap local beer. Shiner is not an interesting or engaging beer like some the Celis line-up were... but a fine thing with a burger by the pool any day.

Pennsylvania has Yuengling, which is local, inexpensive and a damn fine beer in all of its incarnations. The Lord Chesterfield and Black and Tan are favorites.

[Adrienne Carmack]

I love Shiner. I'm from Texas and it's one of the first beers I grew to like - we always had kegs of it at parties.

In Miami, I can find it very inconsistently. When I do see it, I buy it.

[Kent Wang]

Pennsylvania has Yuengling, which is local, inexpensive and a damn fine beer in all of its incarnations.  The Lord Chesterfield and Black and Tan are favorites.

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Is it as popular with the masses?

[eje]

Pennsylvania has Yuengling, which is local, inexpensive and a damn fine beer in all of its incarnations.  The Lord Chesterfield and Black and Tan are favorites.

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And in Wisconsin, we had Point and Leinenkugel. When I was in college, there was almost always a 24 pack of one or the other in my apartment kitchen.

[mrbigjas]

Pennsylvania has Yuengling, which is local, inexpensive and a damn fine beer in all of its incarnations.  The Lord Chesterfield and Black and Tan are favorites.

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Is it as popular with the masses?

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yep. ain't a bar in town that doesn't have it on tap (ok rich, i know that's an exaggeration). keg or cases of it at every party.

i've spent a decent amount of time in texas, and i ended up liking shiner in the same way i like yuengling--perfectly acceptable anytime, and constantly available.

[Okbrewer]

Though not a true bock beer, Shiner is a good tasting beer. It is not one that I normally run out and buy, but if the choice is Shiner or BudMillerCoors, guess which one I'll grab? I call Shiner Bock a good 'transitional beer' in that it allows people to see and taste that a darker beer isn't necessarily heavy and highly alcoholic. It might then lead them to try something else that is different from the yellow sudsy watery stuff they used to call beer.

Regionally, I point people to Boulevard (Kansas City) beers, especially their Bully Porter and Bob's '47. More locally, Kreb's Brewing Co. (Krebs, OK) has started to bottle its Choc beer and Miner's Light as well as a seasonal Choctoberfest. The Choc was my 'go to beer' last summer!

Bob R in OKC

[mmc1369]

I don't see Shiner ever in the Philly area. I like it - it reminds me of Yuengling lager - which it seems is a good comparison in terms of quality and availibility. When I visit my wife's family in Louisiana - I always grab a case of Shiner and Abita to bring home.

[cdh]

I just saw a giant Shiner billboard along the highway in Delaware, so it is encroaching on Philly...

[Blanche Davidian]

I have an uncle from KS who lives in Fort Worth and stocks up on Leinenkugel's when he's back in the midwest and an uncle from TX who lives in Omaha who used to stock up on Shiner when he was back in HIS home state. The loyalty!

I am always befuddled by our well-meaning midwestern pals who buy Shiner for us when we go visit. They are so proud to present us Texans with our Texas beer, but secretly I'm thinking, "uhhh, dude, I drink gallons of this at home. What else have you got?"

Lone Star and PBR have interesting parallels as well...

[Blair P. Houghton]

I "discovered" Shiner Bock in a tub of ice at Sonny Bryan's in Dallas in the summer of 2000, and fell in love.

It took a few months before it was available in bottles in Phoenix, and it turns out it doesn't travel well. It develops an edge. Not quite a skunkiness, but the smoothness is roughed up a bit.

Then a couple of years later the distros made a push and it started popping up in bars around town -- and on tap! But again, it had that "export" tinge to it. And then it waned. I can always find it at the grocery store, and most bbq joints, but most of the bars have rotated other things into their precious keg-room real estate.

This morning, a good friend left to move to central Texas. I'm looking forward to contriving a late-summer trip to visit her, or maybe during Bocktoberfest. We want to do the Shiner nursery tour and then I can taste the brew in its creamy infant state.

[Jason Perlow]

Shiner Bock is awesome. I had my first one in Austin only a few weeks ago. I can't wait until I can find a good source of it locally here in North Jersey.

[lesfen]

Went back to Texas in March and had the occasion to rekindle my love affair with "Shaaahner". I really do like the stuff. BUT... Just found out that I'm pregnant again so I guess those memories are going to have to carry me through until after Christmas. Sigh. Visions of Shiner Bock...

[Kent Wang]

I am giving up Shiner for Ziegenbock. It's much more "Texas", is not being exported and most importantly is darker, tastier and a true bock. Next time y'all stop in Texas give it a try.

[Richard Kilgore]

Some may recall the Shiner radio ad in Austin from the 1970s. It went something like this.

Buddy: It sure is hot Joe Bob.

JB: Yep. Sure is.

Buddy: How bout we go get a beer?

JB: OK. Sounds good to me. What do you want?

Buddy: Let's get a Shiner!

JB: Are you kidding?

Buddy: Hey Joe Bob, they've improved it! You can almost drink it now!

[slkinsey]

I guess I'll echo what others have said: Shiner is a step up from Budweiser and Miller, but not a particularly big one. It's the kind of beer I'd be likely to have in Texas while I was having a plate of brisket at a local barbecue joint. I might say the same thing of Lone Star or Pearl. And that's part of the point... these aren't spectacular beers, but they are local/regional beers and it makes some sense to have these relatively unsophisticated beers with the Texas regional foods. Similarly, I'm likely to reach for a Tsingtao when I'm eating Chinese. But these aren't beers I'm likely to seek out otherwise, like the aforementioned Celis products which were much more interesting and higher in quality. I actually think it's kind of sad and wrong for a beer like Shiner to become available in New Jersey. It's not so special in and of itself that it warrants such wide distribution, and by making it widely available outside Texas it kind of takes away some of what was special about it.

[jesskidden]

Now if we got Celis in these parts, that would be a different story.

(Though, strangely, it appears Celis is now brewed in Michigan!?)

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Not so strange- Miller bought the brewery and the brand name "Celis", ran it for a while (and, for some reason, limited the distribution), then closed the brewery and sold the equipment and the name to a brewery in Michigan. Michigan Brewery apparently ships the beer to Texas but doesn't have nearly the distribution that Celis had pre-Miller, since I haven't seen it on the East Coast yet.

What's a bit strange (but not really unusual- see Bully Hill wine), is that Celis is again going to be brewing beer in Texas (well, contract-brewing) but can no longer use his own name. http://tinyurl.com/j6emd

[Jason Perlow]

I guess I'll echo what others have said:  Shiner is a step up from Budweiser and Miller, but not a particularly big one.  It's the kind of beer I'd be likely to have in Texas while I was having a plate of brisket at a local barbecue joint.  I might say the same thing of Lone Star or Pearl.  And that's part of the point... these aren't spectacular beers, but they are local/regional beers and it makes some sense to have these relatively unsophisticated beers with the Texas regional foods.  Similarly, I'm likely to reach for a Tsingtao when I'm eating Chinese.  But these aren't beers I'm likely to seek out otherwise, like the aforementioned Celis products which were much more interesting and higher in quality.  I actually think it's kind of sad and wrong for a beer like Shiner to become available in New Jersey.  It's not so special in and of itself that it warrants such wide distribution, and by making it widely available outside Texas it kind of takes away some of what was special about it.

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I dunno, I buy Tsingtao in Jersey. And any number of other simple beers, from the Caribbean and Latin America. Why not an American product from Texas?

[stephenc]

Shiner is good, but Yuengling is better.

[SheenaGreena]

shiner....ahhh gross

"shiner" is a nick name that has been given to me by my sister's boyfriend (my name is sheena) and when him and my father found shiner they were all too excited to share it with me...

So when I visited my parents a few months ago I tasted shiner for the first time in Maryland and it was horrible. I believe it was a hefeweizen and boy was it nasty. I will stick with yuengling

[Rich Pawlak]

Ummmmm......wrong.

Shiner makes a bock and pretty decent beer at that.