if you really want the experience of “small town texas”, shiner is the place to visit. It’s been on my texas bucket list for years, but admittedly, only because I wanted to visit the shiner brewery, the oldest independent brewery in Texas. I heard that it was one of those “one-stoplight” kinda places, where if you blink, you’ll miss it. This is and isn’t true. There is one stoplight, which comes after you stroll through their main street, cross the railroad tracks, and then you’re outta town. But, that one little main street packs a lot of punch.
Now, this post is about the Spoetzl Brewery, but for a town that has really embraced the brewery, it’s good to mention that a trip “downtown”, which is quite literally a walk across the railroad tracks from the brewery, might be a good idea.
I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect of the Shiner Brewery, er, the Spoetzl Brewery. But, whatever I did expect, I was very surprised by what I saw. Coming down the main street of Shiner, you take a left at that one stoplight, and you can’t miss the brewery. As you come up over the hill, it commands your eyes, sitting back along a spring with native flowering plants lined along the entrance. To be honest, it’s a beautiful brewery. They’ve done such an amazing job combining the old with the new. As you enter, there’s a huge grassy yard filled with picnic tables, under huge shade trees…because, Texas. The clean, white lines of the building’s exterior contrast and pop off the clear, blue backdrop of the sky.
