Shiner Bock - Spoetzl Brewery

AtrumAnimus

Texas

1.3/5  rDev -58.2%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 1 | feel: 1 | overall: 1

It is a sad day when the Micro's sell out to the big guys - And it has happened again. Shiner Bock - used to be a standard in Texas for quality Bock beer. The taste was rich and had a decent mouthfeel. They mostly had taste.

Now that the Sell out has occurred (Apparently to the Devil Anheuser-Bush) they have watered down this beer. The Color is still good and quite deceptive. The taste is nearly non-existent. Essentially a little more flavor than regular (American) Budweiser. But not much. This is a weak watery beer and a sad disappointment. The head is short lived and the aroma is nearly extinct as well. I would have recommended this onel highly about a year ago. But no way will I sully my wonderful reputation recommending this. Avoid it.

Oh Well - Another one bites the dust. : - (

Serving type: bottle

01-07-2003 07:46:59 | More by AtrumAnimus

Kunsan90

North Carolina

2.9/5  rDev -6.8%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

When poured, the color was dark amber with a quick dissolving light tan head. I wasn’t able to identify a distinct odor while drinking. It had a very quick spicy snap to it with a slight sweet taste on the sides of my mouth and leaving a dry after taste. The beer actually had a slight flatness to it, didn’t seem to have a lot of carbonation. It is a nice change to the mainstream beers you advertised on TV during the football games and not pass one up if offered.

Serving type: bottle

01-05-2003 10:40:27 | More by Kunsan90

Morris729

Texas

3.6/5  rDev +15.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5

Pours a clear brownish amber color with a creamy white head and a light aroma of sweet malt. It has a crisp flavor with notes of caramel and goes down so easy it’s a little scary. As others have mentioned, one of the best features of this brew is that no matter how small the bar in Texas you find yourself in, they are almost guaranteed to carry it.

Serving type: bottle

11-18-2002 23:31:08 | More by Morris729

bditty187

Nebraska

2.58/5  rDev -17%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Not a very compelling beer. It seems to lean on the watery-light side of things. The more I drink this beer the less I like it (maturing taste/expectations?). Something about the taste, it is like old prunes and Dr. Pepper, kind of harsh, and not really all that enjoyable to drink. The nose has a twist metallic, prune, malt, type of thing going on. By this point any details of the appearance is irrelevant as this beer is a lost cause.

I would not recommend it or drink it again, in all likelihood.

Serving type: bottle

10-19-2002 07:16:28 | More by bditty187

TheLongBeachBum

California

3.7/5  rDev +19%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5

In an effort to promote traditional lambic I gave a colleague at work a bottle of Mort Subite Fond Gueuze (the rare unfiltered strong stuff) - in return - he gave me a bottle of this.
A lovely deep copper-red color, it poured with a thin head. Medium to lightish carbonation, giving a light wanting mouthfeel. Average malty beer that drops the tonsils quite nicely. However, the more I drank this beer, the more I began to grow to like it. I would imagine I could easily drink 3 or 4 bottles of this (if I had them). Not outstanding - but neither offensive or characterless, sort of a "Safe Bet". A reasonably balanced beer that drinks well, and was nowhere near as bad as I had been led to believe, shame on the "knockers".
Was it worth the bottle of traditional Gueuze? - Hell No !!!!

Serving type: bottle

10-04-2002 22:50:06 | More by TheLongBeachBum

tang214

Texas

4.72/5  rDev +51.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

This beer is a staple in my diet. It's got a nice dark brown slighty red color. It pours so easily without ever get to thick of a head. The foam is nice, it fades quickly and leaves almost no lace. The smell isn't one of my favorites (don't get me wrong, I like the smell but mostly because it is one of my favorite beers). It has an excellent mouthfeel with with the caramel flavors and all. It's drinkability truely exceptional whether you slowly drink it down or are just chugging away at a party. In my opinion, defeniently one of the best beers ever brewed.

Serving type: bottle

09-09-2002 19:54:01 | More by tang214

pezoids

Pennsylvania

4.13/5  rDev +32.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

This is a great beer. Not at all what I would consider a bock beer, but very good. I wish I could get this beer here in Pennsylvania. We recently visited the Spoetzel Brewery in Shiner, Texas and had some fresh draft samples there also.
A malty and better than average amber lager. Nice head and
body. I hope they can get it up to my area in the future.

Serving type: bottle

09-08-2002 14:50:55 | More by pezoids

BeerAngel

Texas

3.3/5  rDev +6.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Pours a dark tea color with excellent clarity with an off-white head that dissipates fairly quickly. Pretty pleasing to the eye. The smell is that of slight caramel tones, but not much else and definitely not real obvious. Has an extremely crisp taste with hop/carbo bite on the nose and a very mild (too mild) finish. I believe maybe there's decent stuff in here, but they are "riding the fence" on flavor maybe to get people to convert from an even lesser complex brew like you know...the biggies. The mouthfeel is clean and and light bodied. Not too bad, and a good stand-by beer. And best of all, it's in Tejas (from German roots). Prosit!

Serving type: bottle

08-04-2002 18:40:44 | More by BeerAngel

BeerBob

Nebraska

2.35/5  rDev -24.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

Shiner Bock pours a shadowy translucent amber and no head to speak of. Most of the nose is just the vapor of alcohol. The palate starts thin and watery, then a thin toasted malt, and after that, to a slight dry hops.

This is not número uno (number one) on my runway.

Serving type: bottle

07-07-2002 15:12:57 | More by BeerBob

StevieW

Florida

3.25/5  rDev +4.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Dark amber brownish color, with a slight tan head. Head settled and left quickly. Smell was very much malty sweetness, and some sourness to it. Lots of sweet malt taste, lacked any real hop balance. Was a bit more watery and thin than I remembered. Mostly an average beer, I remember this being much better. Needs a little hops for balance, and less watery feel and I think they might have something worthwhile.......

Serving type: bottle

07-02-2002 11:51:11 | More by StevieW

usualpulp

Texas

3.53/5  rDev +13.5%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

This is an average beer. It pours a dark amber color and has a very slight malty smell. Its not really a bock style more of an amber ale. This beer isnt really bad, but its just not as great as some people think. But in a pinch its a good beer, around here its on tap at most any resteraunt or bar. Its a nice beer for taking to the lake or camping, but there are many beers i would pick over this one for daily drinking.

Serving type: bottle

06-26-2002 20:55:43 | More by usualpulp

EagleTalon

Arkansas

2.35/5  rDev -24.4%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5

This is slightly worse than Michelob Amber Bock. It is OK if nothing else besides regular Bud/Miller/Coors beers are available. At least it has some darker malts in it to give it a little sweetness. But...it is ruined by a cheaper, adjuncty, watered down overall flavor and inferior hops compared to Amber Bock, as if they put enough hops in these pseudo-bocks in the first place. The stores are too damn proud of this product--let's drop the price down a little, OK? It would be nice to have a darker beer that tastes cheap to actually BE cheap!

Serving type: bottle

05-13-2002 23:12:07 | More by EagleTalon

Murph

Arizona

2.98/5  rDev -4.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

Pours a nice dark amber/light brown with a small tan head that runs away very quickly. The smell is of slight malt and adjuncts. Taste is fairly bland with some light malt sweetness. Adjunct taste is also present. Very fizzy on the tongue and down the throat. This brew is somewhat drinkable mainly because of its lack of flavor. It seems to be a trend among the Shiner line to be bland and tasteless. It tastes like someone took a pretty good tasting beer and poured a bunch of water in it. I won't buy it again.

Serving type: bottle

05-12-2002 17:33:03 | More by Murph

marc77

California

3.08/5  rDev -1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

The dense sticky head tops a crystal clear bronze hued brew. There's good lace left-- the number of sips taken to finish the beer is countable. (I love that) Unfortunately, this beer falls short after that. Just a hint of graininess and grassy Saaz hop in aroma, but there's not much else there. The VERY mild toasted malt flavors dominate and the weak hop bitterness leave the beer a tad sweet. It's got a bit more body than the norm for style, but the overall lack of flavor make this a run of the mill American dark lager. Finishes w/ a hint of bready malt notes and residual sweetness. Wow-- this is the best bock I've ever had! : )

Serving type: bottle

04-28-2002 18:56:39 | More by marc77

inebrius

Michigan

2.63/5  rDev -15.4%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

A typical American macro lager with color. Spoetzl Brewery should be fined for the gross misrepresentation of this brew (Bock, right?) I let it warm up to try and find a redeeming quality, but it just got worse. I ask you, what is the point? If you want a pretty beer buy Shiner Bock. If you want flavor buy something else.

Serving type: bottle

04-27-2002 20:27:35 | More by inebrius

mickeymac

California

2.7/5  rDev -13.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

It looks pretty nice, but the experience goes downhill from there. I drank it on draught over three nights at three different bars and received a beer with no head and little carbonation. The flavor was bland and uninspired. It felt like it was sticking to the inside of my mouth after I finished my first pint. I gave it more than a fair shake based on numerous recommendations by Texans, but it's nothing special.

Serving type: bottle

04-16-2002 22:01:19 | More by mickeymac

Pegasus

Texas

2.7/5  rDev -13.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Deep red amber in color with a decent off-white head. Aroma is mostly of alcohol and a little maltiness, in general, a bit weak. The taste was less than I expected, certainly seemed watery for a bock, a little malt and some faint hop notes. Better than the worst of the major beers, but that is not saying much. Much better bock-style beers are readily had.

Serving type: bottle

04-07-2002 18:09:26 | More by Pegasus

aracauna

Georgia

3.15/5  rDev +1.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

The color is kind of cool, like a well-brewed glass of iced tea. Being a southerner, I can appreciate that. A foamy head dissipates quickly. Nothing spectacular in smell or tast. It's like most of the macros, but a hell of a lot better.

Serving type: bottle

04-03-2002 09:47:15 | More by aracauna

ZAP

Minnesota

3.13/5  rDev +0.6%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

The Beer gods shined down on me today...No sooner did I read a comment on the forum about this being someone's first beer ever, and walla a bottle of it shows up on my desk at work...This guy was in Texas and brought me back a bottle in his never ending quest to find a beer I haven't tried...he hit on this one...

It must have been partly cloudy when the Beer gods were shining down on this beer..For a bock it is very light in body..almost watery...BUT it does have a good taste to it (although the taste is faint)...definitely on the malty side...maybe more of a vienna style...I get ZERO hopping on this....The BA review (which I usually try not to read before doing my as to not influence my opinion) mentioned caramel and I definitely agree with that...the malt taste is not heavy but there...seems easy on the mouth and would be pretty easy drinking overall...Just not as much body as I expect in a bock...copper in color...big frothy head that dissipates into nearly nothing in moments...

Serving type: bottle

03-27-2002 00:32:22 | More by ZAP

ADR

Pennsylvania

3.05/5  rDev -1.9%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5

Last time I was visiting a buddy in College Station I picked up a six of these (he favored twelve packs of Busch "tallboys")...medium brown color, sticky head. Very butterscotchy and the other malt tastes are vaguely syrupy, though not heavy-bodied at all...Too sweet for me but decent drinkability.

Serving type: bottle

03-12-2002 11:43:10 | More by ADR

Jason

Massachusetts

3.3/5  rDev +6.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Presentation: 12 oz twist off brown long neck bottle with no freshness date to be found.

Appearance: Crystal clear with a tawny amber that is on the verge of brown, big rocky off white head settles to a two fingered lace that leave a few sticky patches here and there down the glass.

Smell: Clean aroma with hints of husk and dextrin malt, little on the plate of alcohol or hop.

Taste: Medium body with a moderate carbonation, clean and smooth mouth feel with a thin maltiness on the palate. Flavours of toasted malt and caramel run slim with a strained malt sweetness. Hops seem faded and used up with a struggling bitterness. Alcohol warms a bit with a perfume or rose ghost like taste, finish is lean and clean with not much to show for other than remnants of toasted grain.

Notes: Not a bad brew but it leaves the taste buds short on flavour for what a bock should be, for an American Dark Lager it hold up well and is a step above the big guys.

Serving type: bottle

01-21-2002 00:00:01 | More by Jason

Brent

Kentucky

2.05/5  rDev -34.1%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Raw and unrefined, with an abrasive alcohol presence.

Serving type: bottle

08-28-2001 15:47:21 | More by Brent