Seventh Stop - Spoetzl Brewery

I’ve always been a little confused as to why the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, TX refers to their beers as “Shiner Beers.” Sure, I could have checked their website or any number of research materials but instead I went to the brewery.

Shiner, TX is pretty out of the way between Houston and San Antonio. So instead of making you head down to Shiner to figure it out for yourself I might as well tell you. The Spoetzl Brewery was started in 1909 by the Shiner Brewing Association to make only one beer, Shiner Premium. Their famous bock beer wasn’t introduced until 1913 when it became a seasonal offering.

Shiner Premium must not have been too stellar because in 1913 the Shiner Brewing Association started a search for a real brewmaster. Eventually they found Kosmos Spoetzl. He was arrived in Shiner in 1914 and purchased the brewery in 1915, which was when the brewery took his name, Spoetzl. However, the identification of their products as “Shiner Beers” never really stopped after the brewery’s name changed, hence my confusion. The name wasn’t the only thing changing with the new leadership though. In just his third year at the brewery in 1916 Kosmos started bottling his beer.

Shiner is one of very few breweries that managed to survive prohibition intact. Spoetzl converted to produce ice and “near beer” during those dark years. My tour guide noted that the near beer produced in Shiner was not produced to be made with no alcohol but instead had the alcohol removed before distribution…usually. Apparently Kosmos was occasionally a little forgetful and would leave the alcohol in the beer when selling to some locals. Kosmos led the brewery until his death in 1950 when his daughter “Miss Celie” took over operations.

You might notice that my pictures at Spoetzl are kind of lame. That’s because Spoetzl’s picture policy is kind of lame. They don’t allow any pictures to be taken while on the brewery tour. Because of that I was limited to just taking pictures around the outside of the facility.

After public relations rep Anne Raabe gave a tour I was on she was kind enough to answer a few of my questions. She also went out of her way on an extremely busy day to try and track down brewmaster Jimmy Mauric or his assistant brewmaster to have a conversation with me. Both of them weren’t even in the town of Shiner that day, but she did find Peter Takacs, manager of quality assurance, for me to talk with.

I’m actually grad I got to talk with Mr. Takacs instead of a brewmaster or owner. His job and his perspective on beer/brewery were completely unique from anyone else I’ve spoken with so far on my tours. We talked for quite a while about the quality assurance process at a brewery and some of the most in-depth history of brewing anyone I’ve spoken with has imparted to me. All of that and more will be coming in the chapter about Shiner in my book.