Shiner Holiday Cheer - Spoetzl Brewery

mattcrill

Ohio

2.35/5  rDev -32.9%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2

Aroma: Crazy big artificial fruit flavors going on here. I get lots of artificial grape gum flavors that dominate the nose. No hop aromas. Some bready malt character as the beer is agitated.

Appearance: Dark copper colored pour with a low and short lasting white head.

Flavor: More artificial fruit flavors. Kind of seems like cran-grape juice. Background spicy hop notes provide some balance. Finish is crisp and dry.

Mouthfeel: Light bodied and high carbonation. No astringency or warmth on the palate.

Overall impression: A very artifical, confusing ale. Not sure what to think of it but it just tasted industrial and artificial. Avoid.

Serving type: bottle

12-07-2009 01:02:37 | More by mattcrill

elgiacomo

Georgia

2.3/5  rDev -34.3%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

12oz bottle, 2010 batch. Pours clear copper amber with a one finger off white head that quickly recedes to a wispy cap and ring, not much lacing at all. Aroma is a bunch of funky peaches, I can dig peaches but these are just...well...funky. A lot of pecan as well, maybe too much as it ain't playing nicely with the peaches and may be what is contributing to the funk. Also a bit of caramel malt. Good strength. Flavor is also loaded with the funky peach taste, particularly on the finish, pecans, good caramel malt backbone, bready, rather sweet. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, oily becoming sticky, medium carbonation. Not my cup of tea. I know they use real peaches and pecans but can't help but feel that those may be boosted by some artificial flavorings as well. Doubt I'll make it to the end of the glass...

Serving type: bottle

01-07-2011 02:31:29 | More by elgiacomo

UnderPressure

South Carolina

2.3/5  rDev -34.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2

Extremely clear medium brown beer with a small head that melts to a ring.

The aroma is a balance of sweet malt and tart fruit.

Way too much fruit. And way too sweet. It tastes like I'm drinking a piece of peach candy. I hate the flavor. It doesn't taste like beer.

The mouthfeel is not bad. Medium bodied. But I'm having trouble getting past the flavor.

It sounds weird to say, but everything about this beer was good except the flavor. In fact, I ha to pour it out after I drank about 3/4 of the bottle. And I hate to do that, but there's other way better beer in my fridge.

Serving type: bottle

11-29-2011 01:44:30 | More by UnderPressure

goldenboi187

2.25/5  rDev -35.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

This beer tastes 10x better on tap than bottle. The bottle taste reminds me of sour milk on the after taste. Have you ever tasted your own ear wax? Well after drinking this you might be able to recall that. Now, why I say ear wax??...well I tasted my ear wax numerous times out of curiosity. I wouldn't buy this beer. I'd rather bum off someone else.

Serving type: bottle

12-20-2012 07:05:29 | More by goldenboi187

popery

California

2.23/5  rDev -36.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

Oh God, the peaches. It's not so much that the peach flavor is all that bad, in fact it's one of the more natural-tasting fruit flavors in a fruit beer that I've tried, but it's just extremely peachy, like someone mixed peach preserves and beer. The smell is particularly peachy, literally rather than figuratively. The flavor is like a cross between a strawberry soda, a light possibly decent dunkelweizen and a giant bowl of peaches (and a trace of bile - but I hate a lot of sweet fruit beers). I've never really associated peaches with the holiday season, so it leaves me a bit confused. Maybe, it's a Texas thing. Also, if anyone can taste pecan in this beer, my hat is off to you. It's really not a horrible beer, I guess, but it's not my thing.

Serving type: bottle

11-21-2009 07:15:09 | More by popery

BigBarley

Texas

2.15/5  rDev -38.6%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

A - Pours a deep amber, very dark but still see-through. Not a very dunkel looking beer. 3 fingers of a heavy wheat head, that recedes to a thick lacing.

S - Peaches, with mild wheat and sweet malt undertones. Extreme overpowering peach notes take away from any real beer ingredients. Not pleasant, smells artificial.

T - Peach blast. And not a very pleasant blast at that. Mild yeast notes as the taste fades out. No real wheat presence. Strange flavor, not all that enjoyable from my end.

M - Might as well be a light lager. I've never tasted a dunkel that was this thin and bubbly. Little thicker than a light lager I guess, but not nearly the wheaty body you'd expect.

O - Disappointing is the name of this beer. If you're REALLY into peachy flavors and thin beer, go for it. But if you're looking for an actual dunkel, steer clear of this one.

Serving type: bottle

11-19-2012 15:44:09 | More by BigBarley

TexIndy

Texas

2.08/5  rDev -40.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 1.5

Poured from a 12oz bottle (no dating info but new seasonal so it's fresh) into a pint glass. It was mahogany color with some carb and slight lacing. It has a good sized light beige head that took awhile to fade.

The was peach, peach and more peach. Never really got a whiff of the underlying base beer. I like peaches but this was too much. Same for the taste. Very one dimensional and cloying. It also clashed with the base flavor.

Overall, nasty and a drain pour. One and done. Very glad I got a single instead of a sixer. Another sub-par effort from Shiner - a faded Texas icon. Avoid.

Serving type: bottle

11-12-2008 01:08:42 | More by TexIndy

largadeer

California

2.05/5  rDev -41.4%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

A dunkelweizen brewed with peaches, pecans and delicious natural flavor and caramel color. On a day like this, what could be better than some crisp refreshing natural flavor?

The beer is the color of mahogany with ruby red highlights and perfect clarity, which I find a little odd for a dunkelweizen. The head crackles and dissipates like a can of soda poured into a paper cup. Looks exactly like Coke, actually.

Sweet and tart peaches and cream greet the nose first; more like cream soda actually. Toasted pecans and whole wheat toast are present as well. It's on the sweet side, and oddly artificial smelling.

Cola, peaches, strawberries, caramel and pecans are dominant on the tongue, along with a touch of nutmeg and chocolate. It's very sweet and syrupy, though the body is thin and carbonation high. It finishes on a dry note, with some lingering bitterness, Cherry Coke and peach. This is strange, unsettling stuff; it's like a soda/beer hybrid. If you're the type of person that adds shots of vodka to their RC Cola, you may enjoy this, but otherwise it's best avoided.

Serving type: bottle

12-15-2009 03:09:55 | More by largadeer

depechemode1983

Texas

1.93/5  rDev -44.9%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 1.5

Pours an amber reddish brown with a fluffy brown dissipate not too long after the pour. There is no evident carbonation or lacing. The smell is very sweet. Lots of peaches and strawberries up front. Artificial candy notes actually take over the whole nose. Taste is artificial as well with candy strawberries being the highlight. Mouthfeel. A bit syrupy and with medium carbonation. not good. Drinkability is minimal. Ill finish the one and move on to good beer. Not very impressed with this one.

Serving type: bottle

12-21-2010 00:02:41 | More by depechemode1983

TeeCee

Louisiana

1.88/5  rDev -46.3%
look: 4 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 1.5

Quick review - yuch! I feel bad about such a negative review, but this is probably the worst beer I have ever had. I would rather drink a Heineken and I can't stand Heineken. This is my second one and I'm drinking it a) to get it out of my refrigerator (will not chill the remaining four) and b) so I can report on it here.

I poured it in a 16oz. pint glass. The color was a dark reddish brown with more than an inch of head that almost immediately disappeared. Very good looking beer with a nice color.

The smell is definitely peachy but also almost like something rotten. The peach scent smells authentic. It doesn't smell like potpourri or anything.

The taste is sour-peachy sitting on top of something that almost tastes good. This seems like a good recipe to ruin a dunkelweizen (one of my favorite styles of beer).

The mouthfeel was medium thick with no fizzy feel to it. I did not give this beer time to warm. I just can't take the taste.

I hope if Shiner offers a Holiday Cheer next year, they experiment in another direction. I'll be sure to pick it up if I see it.

Serving type: bottle

12-19-2008 18:22:35 | More by TeeCee

ProfessorK

Louisiana

1.85/5  rDev -47.1%
look: 1.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2

I would not bother to dis a beer just because I didn't like it but this beer crossed the line by labeling itself as a Dunkelweizen.

I was fortunate enough to live in Germany for three years. I don't claim to be an expert but Dunkelweizen was one of my top three favorite German styles and I tried it everywhere I saw it (including every example in the BJCP). This beer misses the Dunkelweizen mark in every category.

A - The color is a quite lovely ruby hue but the beer is much too clear. Dunkelweizen is traditionally unfiltered with a strong protein haze that is apparent even if you don't swirl the sediment.

S - The peach smell is pretty nice but the beer lacks all of the phenol and ester aromas that make Dunkelweizens mouthwatering.

T - I was looking forward to the peach in this beer and it was nice but a little strong, perhaps because most of the other expected flavors were missing. There is an obvious Munich component to this beer but there is little else that is found in an authentic Dunkelweizen. No banana or clove. Muted esters. No breadiness from the yeast.

M - The mouthfeel is decent but it missing the "heft" of an unfiltered wheat beer.

O - Compared to other American wheat beers and/or fruit beers I find this one to be average but I will be the first to admit that this is not my style. If Spoetzl had marked this beer as Dark American Wheat I still wouldn't like it but I would be forced to give it slightly higher marks. As it stands, the "Old World Dunkelweizen" on the box is an outright lie.

Serving type: bottle

12-09-2011 01:10:45 | More by ProfessorK

AMERADJUNCTPROF

Arizona

1.6/5  rDev -54.3%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 1 | feel: 3 | overall: 1.5

I don't want to write too much, since I have wasted enough time with this beer.

It is an average beer with what tastes like a bad Jolly Rancher dropped in it. I'm not sure if you like fruity beer, but even if you do, this is just not good. I rarely leave a beer in my fridge, they eventually get drunk, but this didn't.

I only kept one because I wanted a friend of mine to taste how bad it was. He didn't mind it that much. I guess there is no accounting for taste.

Serving type: bottle

05-14-2011 23:06:52 | More by AMERADJUNCTPROF