Friday, February 22, 2013

What’s on tap in Shiner, Texas…

Shiner Texas 006

Shiner Texas 003What’s on tap in Shiner, Texas? Why Shiner beer of course! A little over one hour north of Goliad State Park is a small inconspicuous little town one would hardly even notice were it not for Shiner Beer. Shiner Texas is home to the Spoetzl Brewery which produces one of the last remaining beers made exclusively in Texas.

Shiner Texas 001We pulled into the only park we could find close by and it was called Green-Dickson Municipal Park. It was a little hard to find but what a gem it was! The 148-acre facility is located about one mile from the town center. The park is a massive city park considering the size of Shiner, Tx. It has nice, covered picnic tables,each with its own barbecue pit. There are playgrounds, lighted tennis and volleyball courts, a fishing pond, and even a baseball and softball complex.  However the best part were the hilltop spaces for overnight camping for RV's overlooking the pond and pShiner Texas 004ark below. These sites don’t have sewer and only have 30 amp service but they were nice sites with one exception. There are only 10 or 12 sites arranged in twos, side by side so if if we had a neighbor the accommodations would have been extremely close.  Luckily after reading the reviews it seems it is rare that many people stay here so we decided to chance it. As it turned out only three sites were occupied while we were there so all of us had the double sites to ourselves.

 

Once parked we headed into town and had a quick lunch before heading over to the Spoetzl Brewery, home of all Shiner beer.  I use to stop by this brewery in the late 70’s and early 80’s on the way to the coast so I have many fond memories of Shiner Texas 013sampling Shiner beer at these detours. We had read that there are two tours each weekday during the non-summer months and we planned to take the last tour at 1:30 pm. We parked and entered into the gift shop where the tours start and more importantly where the sampling room is. Samplers need not take the tour to taste the beer as all one needs to do is walk up to a server, pick out a sample to try,and the server will pour a 7 oz. cup for you.  Better yet, your server will present you with an additional 3 tokens for three more samples. Shiner just may be the beervanah capital of Texas…

Shiner Texas 011We chose to sample one beer while waiting for the tour to start then lingered for the other three after the tour. I won’t bore you with the details of the brewery and how they make beer but I must say the tour guide was very informative and entertaining.  There were seven different beers on tap for tasting on the day we visited and we tried five of them. Sharon’s favorite was the Shiner Blonde and mine was a tie between their Red Hare Pale Ale and a seasonal beer called FM966…yummy! It was fun returning to the Spoetzl Brewery after all these years and we even took a self portrait photo reflecting off the copper vats…

Next we were off to Lockhart, Texas where we are camped at Lockhart State Park for a few days of  eating some fantastic, famous BBQ  and camping with the grandkids…

9 comments:

  1. Sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon sampling beer, then follow up a few days with the grandkids and Texas BBQ, enjoy!.

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  2. We have always wanted to visit the brewery. Thanks for the suggestion on where to stay.

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  3. Enjoy that BBQ and maybe another Shiner or two!

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  4. Glad to hear you found some good beer finally. As Oregonians, we are definitely challenged when it comes to finding craft beer in Florida. Enjoy those grandkids and the real Texas barbecue!

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  5. I'm loving your descriptions of Texas and all the places you visit. Hopefully we will have a chance to sample some of these places next year.

    It's hard to believe but it's 2 years since the largest and most damaging of the Christchurch earthquakes. The city is finally moving into rebuilding mode although there is still a huge amount of demolition going on. It's sad to see how many lives have been messed about for all this time. I thought you might like this link to an interactive site of before and after photos. It took me a while to figure out how it works but It's something I have been thinking would be a great idea for some time. We visit Christchurch fairly regularly. Last time was December and we have a week there shortly so we can go to the Ellerslie Flower Show.

    Here's the link to photos. http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/7527181/Altered-landscape-captured-in-project

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  6. We have made notes to be sure we head to Shiner Texas !!

    We will try out both of your favorites for sure ...

    Make sure you give your Grandkids an extra hug for us .. wink wink

    Take care ... Tnt

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  7. butterbean carpenterFebruary 23, 2013 at 9:49 AM

    Howdy y'all,
    When I was at TEXAS A&M in the '50s, we used Shiner beer to take the road-tar off of our cars, BUT in the '90s I was once again introduced to SHINER BOCK and it is the ONLY BEER that I drink anymore!!! I have made the ' PILGRIMAGE' to Shiner and genuflected to the copper kettles!!
    That city park is the largest city park in a small city that I have ever seen and one of the CLEANEST !!!! The brewery was closed when we were there, so, I HOPE someday to return for the tour!!! Hope every RVr gets to Shiner,TX in their lifetime!!!!

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  8. Ok, you are making me jealous, you know how we love a brewery. Glad you got to enjoy some good brew! :)

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  9. I commend you for going to Shiner on a wing and a prayer. I love to do that and find great little campgrounds but more and more I end up not being able to find a spot so it worries me not to have reservations where I used to look forward to it.

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