30/100) Shiner Round 1

I have set myself the goal to review three beers or ciders every week for 100 weeks. I will be learning about beer and ciders more as I do this, and if I am successful in this venture, I will have tried about 300 unique drinks. If you're curious how I'm doing, the number in the post's title tells you which week I am in now.

Bock, Bohemian Black Lager, Kolsch

Spoiler Alert! Next week, I will also be doing three Shiner beers. The holiday season has been fun and crazy, and while I recover, I will look up more information about Spoetzl Brewery so that I can tell you more about them than that they are located in Shiner, Texas.

Bock) As Boulevard's Wheat beer is their staple, the Bock is Shiner's staple. And it really is a unique style. Sweet malts are accented by a smooth creaminess, and the finish is clean. This beer is hard to complain about and is just easy to enjoy. ☆☆☆

Bohemian Black Lager) As it says on the bottle this was originally made for Shiner's 97th anniversary, but it was so good they brought it back as a mainstay. The flavors are focused around a subdued set of nice roasted malt flavors. For those of you who only drink "light" beers, this one is for you. It may be dark in color, but it is still a lager. As such, it doesn't overwhelm your taste buds. I just still don't get what makes it "bohemian." ☆☆☆

Kölsch) I must forewarn you that I am biased towards liking Kölschs, but I tend to think this one had a really good balance of pepper in the finish and initial hop aromatics. Still better in Germany, but hey, I'm not in Germany right now, so it'll do nicely. ☆☆☆☆

Bonus! Do you know how to type in the German umlaut that is in Kölsch? First press down the alt key. Then while still holding the alt key press 1, 4 and 8 in succession. When you release the alt key, the umlaut should appear. Try it out!