Shiner Texas Brewery Tour

The Great Outdoors Without Beer?

Yes, you can do it without beer if you want to, but our family took us to tour a historical landmark, the oldest little brewhouse in Texas in continual operation. The Spoetzl Brewery located in Shiner, TX. Shiner is a small city about 18 miles south of Highway 10, between San Antonio and Houston. This clean little city was founded in March, 1888 by German and Czech farmers. It was named after cattle rancher Henry B. Shiner who donated land for the railroad and a depot where the city came to be located.

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The brewery was started in 1909 with a Bavarian Brewmeister, Kosmos Spoetzl who had formerly operated a brewery in Egypt. Armed with his family recipes, friendly smile and generous ways, he built a loyal following in Texas. The brewery was located here because of artesian springs on the property.

The present owner continues to produce hand crafted beers in the German tradition. In order to produce these specialty brews with an old world taste this brewery imports many of the ingredients from Europe.

All equipment including the beautiful polished copper brewing chambers are carefully cleaned between batches. This one, no longer in use, was polished until it was so thin it could not take any more. This retired beauty is on display in the visitors center. Cameras were not allowed on the inside tour.

We were able to watch the brewing process, the bottling, capping, labeling and packaging. Much of the process is automated but each employee controls the area they work in, stopping the equipment when necessary to correct any problem they saw. The production and packaging area is thoroughly cleaned each night at the end of their shift. It was clear they took pride in their work. Many had worked in the brewery for their entire careers.

Under present ownership the brew is supplied to 37 states. The guided tour included samples on tap in the visitors center. This was an interesting tour.

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