Shine on

Let us pause for a moment in appreciation of the Spoetzl Brewery, makers of Shiner beer, which celebrates its 100th birthday this year.

By all accounts, Shiner beer shouldn’t have made it this long. The Spoetzl Brewery ferments its brew in a one-stoplight town that’s not on the way to anywhere, and much larger regional brewers long ago succumbed to consolidation and the muscle of national brewers.

For years, Spoetzl limped along with cast-off parts from other breweries and lingered on the brink of shutting down. But today, at 100 years old, Shiner beers are more popular than ever, the oldest and largest craft beers in a state where people cling fiercely to their beer and to all things Texan.

“It’s the classic little guy story,” said Mike Renfro, author of “Shine On,” a book about the brewery’s history. “They managed to overcome some pretty incredible odds.”

Before Prohibition and easy interstate travel, the nation was dotted with small regional brewers, but only a handful have survived and remained independent for a century or more. Yuengling Beer Co. and Matt Brewing Co., maker of Saranac beers, sell mostly on the East Coast, while August Schell Brewing Co. and Stevens Point Brewery, maker of Point beers, sell primarily in the Midwest.

In Texas, there’s just Shiner now, and it’s growing. The brewery now produces 400,000 barrels a year, 10 times what it did 20 years ago, and distributes to 39 states, selling particularly well with ex-Texans and Texas-themed restaurants, company officials say.

The German and Czech immigrants who settled and farmed around this town, an outpost roughly halfway between San Antonio and Houston, formed the Shiner Brewing Association in 1909. In June that year, they bore a well and at just 55 feet, water bubbled to the surface, providing a water source that the brewery still uses.

My introduction to Shiner came when I arrived at Rice University as a graduate student in 1988. You could buy a serving of Shiner, in a plastic cup, at the grad student pub Valhalla for the bargain price of 35 cents. It’s a bit more expensive nowadays, I’m told, but still very student-friendly. I’m a big fan of Saint Arnold beers these days, but when they’re not on the menu, my default choice is Shiner Bock.

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