Shiner Birthday Beer Chocolate Stout

Brewery: Spoetzl Brewery
Location: Shiner, TX
Style: American Stout
ABV: 5%

Each year, the Spoetzl Brewery produces a new brew to commemorate it's birthday. This year, for its 106th birthday, Shiner brewed itself a cake. Sort of. Birthday Beer Chocolate Stout is brewed with real cocoa and made to be sweet and decadent. It's a different direction from the German-inspired brews that Shiner typically produces, and I like that they've had a little fun with this year's anniversary brew.

Appearance: Birthday Beer pours a deep chocolate brown hue  (almost black) with a tan and frothy head.

Aroma: There's an interesting nose on this beer. I get a lot of chocolate at first, but then I begin to pick up some bready yeast aromas on the back end. The chocolate smells very sweet, almost like chocolate syrup or frosting.

Taste: This is definitely a dessert beer! Sweet milk chocolate and sugary goodness jump out on the front of the palate. Cake batter and chocolate frosting also comes to mind. Beyond the initial burst of sugar, the flavor dries out just slightly. Again, I pick up bread on the finish, which I tend to enjoy. It helps to cut the sweetness of this stout a tad.

Overall: If there's ever a beer to replace the ol' cake at the next birthday bash, this is it. It's enjoyably sweet and has a drinkable body. However, as someone who doesn't really love cake and sweets all that much, this isn't a beer I would want to keep drinking. It's definitely worth trying, and I found the beer to be quite tasty, but one and done is good enough for me.

Beer Apostle's Final Grade: B-

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Best of Beer Apostle: May 2014

Ah, June. It's one of the more exciting months of the year. Schools are out, vacations are set, and pools are full. As we get set to close out the first week of June, let's take a look back at some of the most popular Beer Apostle posts from May. Each month, I will provide a recap of the top Beer Apostle articles, posts, and reviews, based on the stats I receive from your readership, clicks, comments, likes, and tweets! As always, I thank you for your readership and continued support of this blog. Cheers!

Here are the top three posts from this past month:

#3: Beer Review: Shiner Bock
Texas. Pride. These are the two words I think of when I see Shiner. As someone who lived and worked in Texas, I can whole-heartedly say there is no other state that takes pride in its own like Texas does. Shiner beer is very much a part of this pride. The Spoetzl Brewery is located in Shiner, TX, a tiny town "no bigger than a postage stamp in the heart of Texas" as described on Shiner's site. This small Texas town has been producing lagers with German influence for over 100 years. Every drop of Shiner comes from Shiner...

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#2:Beer Review: Grasslands' Big Cypress Brett IPA
You might be wondering, "What is Brett?" Brett is short for Brettanomyces, which  is a form of yeast that traditionally imparts a level of “funkiness” or ”sour” tones to its beers. While this is often the case, there are various strands of Brett yeasts that give floral and tropical impressions. The latter is the form of Brett yeast that's used in this Big Cypress IPA...

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#1: Beer Review: Sweetwater Dank Tank Johnny Hash
Johnny Hash is brewed with a literal "hash" of hops. This concentrated amount of Citra hops are hashed together (just like you would a potato hash for breakfast), which theoretically creates a purer tasting hop profile.

Sweet fruit notes, maybe even tropical in flavor. The first impression is borderline candy-like. I get pineapple, passion fruit, and mango notes.

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Beer Review: Shiner Bock

Brewery: Spoetzl Brewery 
Location: Shiner, TX
Style: Bock Bier  
ABV: 4.4%

Price: $8.99/6pk

Texas. Pride. These are the two words I think of when I see Shiner. As someone who lived and worked in Texas, I can whole-heartedly say there is no other state that takes pride in its own like Texas does. Shiner beer is very much a part of this pride. The Spoetzl Brewery is located in Shiner, TX, a tiny town "no bigger than a postage stamp in the heart of Texas" as described on Shiner's site. This small Texas town has been producing lagers with German influence for over 100 years. Every drop of Shiner comes from Shiner. That's they way it is and always has been. And there's something about that even an outsider can appreciate.

Shiner Bock is their flagship lager. I see Shiner popping up more and more around the country, and it sort of reminds me of Yuengling in terms of how relatable it can be to non-craft-beer-drinkers.

Appearance: Sweet tea color with a quickly fading head. The beer is obviously filtered and appears lighter than one might expect from a Bock beer (note: this is brewed in the tradition of an American lager, and not necessarily a German bock).

Aroma: Mild aromas and there's not a lot to pick up on. I do get hints of malt, but nothing to write home about.

Taste: As one might gather from my comparison to Yuengling, this is a mildly smooth and unoffensive beer. It has a strong malt base with some nutty characteristics and a caramel sweetness on the finish. The beer has an overall clean feel, as there is little-to-no aftertaste, dryness, or bitterness. Something that I have noticed in several Shiner brews, and it's most noticeable in this one, is a subtle but troubling copper or metallic taste that I get towards the back of the palate. I have had Shiner Bock on draught, from a can, and in a bottle, and the copper flavor is always there. I am not sure what causes this, but it's definitely not pleasing.

Overall: I love the history of this beer and what Spoetzl represents to Texas, but the beer itself is mild and forgettable. It's a cheap beer (if you live in Texas), but not worth the price you'll pay if you're outside the Lonestar State. 

Saint Arnold Sailing Santa

Brewery:  Saint Arnold Brewing Co.
Location: Houston, TX

Style: American IPA/Blend
ABV: 7%
Price: Unknown (Given as gift)

Texas' oldest craft brewery, Saint Arnold has literally helped define Houston's craft beer scene. In fact, Saint Arnold is what I refer to as my personal gateway brewery. I owe my craft beer allegiance to this brewery. I am forever a fan and advocate of this brewery!

I moved to Houston right out of college in 2007 and "craft beer" was not anywhere on my radar. Once settled, there were two Texas breweries that I took a liking to: Shiner and Saint Arnold. Both have important places in my beer journey, but I credit the latter for my love of craft beer.

Unfortunately, craft beer can be expensive and I was just a budding professional on a humble teacher's salary. Luckily, Saint Arnold held affordable $5 brewery tours every Saturday (the brewery has since moved locations, grown significantly, and now holds daily brewery tours for $7). It was at these tours that I began learning about hand-crafted beer; and it was there, in the middle of their brewery tour, standing beside a few hundred pounds of barley, that I became a born-again beer drinker.

Now that we've gone down memory lane and tears have all but dried on my cheeks, let's get to today's review.

Image taken from saintarnold.com

Sailing Santa is a seasonal blend of their Elissa (IPA) and Christmas Ale. The beer pours a nice copper/amber color. The head thins quickly and leaves a minimal lacing around the glass.

The aroma is a great blend of sweet malts and earthy hops. Given that Saint Arnold has labeled this beer as an IPA, I would say the aroma is a bit incongruent to the typical aroma of an IPA.

This beer is malt-forward. Again, I think it's mislabeled. The taste and aromatic profile fit more as a winter warmer in my opinion. The front flavors are all malt, caramel, toffee, and maybe a little maple syrup. The hop profile from the Elissa IPA portion of the blend are mild and subtle. Pine sneaks in towards the finish of this, which is also a tad dry. I do pick up on the cinnamon that was apparently added to the 2012 version. It's a pleasant flavor that lingers nicely.

Overall, this is a solid winter beer, but it's just not an IPA. I understand that Saint Arnold wants to capitalize on the blend which uses Elissa IPA, but it disappoints if being compared to true IPAs. Style aside, this is an enjoyable blend that's highly drinkable and perfect for the season. As I said above, this reminds me more of an earthy winter warmer. I appreciate the subtle hops in this beer, but the prevailing flavors are the heavier malt profiles and warming spices.