Show #6: Through a Gateway, Darkly
Prebeer Preamble: Are there brews that will get a beer non-drinker hooked on the juice of the barley? With the help of some listeners, and a brave “pink wine” fan, we tackle this question today.
Beer #1: I’m joined by my neighbor Devona, years away from her last (unpleasant) beer experience, to try some Shiner Bock from the Spoetzl Brewery in Texas. Will this whole show concept prove brilliant, or did you just take a ringside seat for the wreck of the beer train?
Interbeer Interlude: Adjunct. “Beer Butt Chicken”. If you have some cans of the old yellow fizz around the house, don’t be ashamed. Turn them into forces for good with this nifty grilling trick!
Beer #2: Newcastle Brown Ale. This wildly popular English ale is our next conversion candidate. It was mentioned by several listeners as a good gateway beer, so it HAS to work for Devona, right? Right?!?
Beer Geek Moment: “Off Flavors.” So your last brew was a little wonky. Is it just style-related quirkiness, or has something gone horribly wrong?
Postbeer Postscript: Devona and I score up these two dark beers. Did either of them trip Ms. White Zinfandel’s trigger?
May 30th, 2006 at 8:50 am
Charlie,
I just listened to the show and it was great as always. I had to comment since you were covering Newcastle and off flavors in the same podcast.
Right now, I have some bottles of Newcastle in my fridge that I recently got from the store. I am very close to just pouring them out (I know - alcohol abuse), because they are very skunky. I opened a bottle and the first thing to hit my nose, even before the cap was all the way off, was skunk. I am very glad that you did not have that problem with the beer you had for the podcast. Nothing like off flavors to make a non-beer drinker really never consider it again. Personally, I try to avoid Newcastle in the bottle (what were they thinking with that clear glass?). I have had more than one that has seen too much light & heat. Now, on draft is another story…
I also have never had Shiner Bock, but based on the show, I am going to look for it and give it a try.
Keep up the good work and I look forward to the next show!
May 31st, 2006 at 6:41 pm
Charlie,
Thanks for the recommendations. While obviously not to the level of the big names, Shiner Bock is a brand that is advertised around these parts, mostly on the radio as I can recall. So, it is a name I’m familiar with and can easily access. I’ll pick some up at my next opportunity and let you know how it turns out.
Who knows, maybe there’s even hope for Joe Murphy/Mercury or whatever he’s calling himself today!
June 2nd, 2006 at 10:47 am
I’m a first-time listener to your podcast. I caught show #6 this week and I have to say it was near and dear to my heart. You see, Shiner Bock was my gateway beer. Way back when I was 21 and I actually started buying alcohol (as opposed to bumming it or getting someone else to buy it) I tried Shiner Bock. I’m a native Texan and I’ve lived in Austin since I was 18, so I was very familiar with Shiner Bock. I liked the fact that it was a Texas beer, and that it wasn’t the same as all they yellow fizzy beers that everyone else was drinking. So I tried it. Not only was it good, but it introduced me into the world of craft-brewed beers. I went from being a non-beer-drinker to a hard-core homebrewer in a matter of a few years. I’m still homebrewing today.
I’d like to shed a little light on Shiner beers and the Spoetzl brewery for you. You commented that Spoetzl was a microbrewery that didn’t want to be considered a microbrewery. Well—not exactly. Sure, no Texan wants to be “micro-“ anything, but Spoetzl is actually one of the few surviving regional breweries in the country. Way back before the mega-breweries took over the country, most people drank regional beers—Shiner included. But these regional breweries slowly succumbed to the A-B, Millers, and Coors giants.
I am no expert on the business of regional breweries, but I believe Spoetzl survived, at least in part, because of Austin. Shiner is about 90 miles Southeast of Austin, but I would hazard to guess that Austin is now, and probably always has been, Spoetzl’s biggest market. This probably has a lot to do with the “weirdness� of Austin, and, of course, the University of Texas—Go Horns! People in Austin drank Shiner beer, especially Bock, when local and regional beers weren’t cool.
Then in the early 90s, when the microbrewing craze hit Texas, Shiner was in a unique position. Not only was its market growing because people were drinking more craft beers, but they were in an excellent position to diversify their product line. First they ditched plain ol’ Shiner and replaced it with Shiner Blonde. Then they started brewing seasonal beers—dopplebock in the winter and Kolsch in the summer. Next they added a hefeweizen—my favorite, and then a light—which is anything but yellow and fizzy. Of course, old Bock is still around, and is probably their most popular beer.
I no longer drink Shiner Bock very often. I like to think my taste is more refined these days—yes, I’m a beer snob. But when I’m out of homebrew, or if I find myself beyond the chickenwire curtain around Austin, and I can’t find 50 microbrews at the local corner grocery, Shiner Bock is always there for me. The golden-yellow glow of its label is quite often the guiding light that saves me from the certain doom of having to drink mega-brewed pisswater. Even though Lone Star claims to be the “National Beer of Texas� (I’m not even sure Lone Star is brewed in Texas any more), Shiner Bock will always be the National Beer of Texas in my heart.
June 2nd, 2006 at 8:28 pm
Max–Two things:
1)Thanks for clarifying the microbrewery/regional brewery distinction. It’s an important one, and will be an ongoing theme on the show, as you’ll hopefully see. Spoetzl, like San Francisco’s Anchor and Pennsylvania’s Yuengling, is a rare bird: the small regional brewery that survived the scourge of prohibition. These are very distinct from the micros that were born in the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and 00’s, which now populate much liquor store shelf space (and occupy fond spaces in my heart). I mention Spoetzl’s near 100 year age on the show, then called it a “micro”! I meant that as in “small”, but the confusion is obvious. I smell a Beer Geek Moment defining types of breweries, by history as well as output.
2)Thanks for sharing your fond Shiner gateway memories. I too tend toward the snobby with my beer, so I must admit I was pleasantly surprised by the Shiner Bock. I figured it would just be Bud with caramel color, but (subtle though it is), there’s genuine character in there. My beer co-pilot on this show, Devona, now buys the stuff by the 12-pack. I’d say it’s a perfectly good introduction to beer with flavor. Yes, there are places to go from there, but as “intro beers” go, I think we have the real deal here.
Thanks for listening!
June 3rd, 2006 at 8:56 pm
Excellent show. Hats off to your friend for getting into the spirit of the show. I’ve tried new castle once, and from the intro of it was thinking I would have to again. Now that beer money can go toward my new love, Sweet Water’s IPA
June 8th, 2006 at 6:28 pm
Well, I finally had time to sit down and listen to the show while drinking along. My wife and I had a slightly different experience than you and your guest. I scored the Newcastle higher. My wife didn’t score, but she also liked it better. Here are my scores:
Appearance:
Shiner - 3 Newcastle - 7
Aroma:
Shiner - 4 Newcastle - 4
Taste:
Shiner - 5 Newcastle - 6
Mouthfeel:
Shiner - 5 Newcastle - 6
Holistic:
Shiner - 6 Newcastle - 7
Totals:
Shiner - 23 Newcastle - 30
With the Shiner, I saw the same things you did, but there was no head. In any other forum this would sound extremely gay, but I like a thick head! The Newcastle was much more enjoyable. The aroma of Shiner, to me, could have been a Bud if I’d had my eyes closed.
I’m looking forward to Show #7. Hope I can find the beers!
September 7th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
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