SHINER, TX – Even when Spoetzl Brewery is running at full speed, you can count on each batch of Shiner beer tasting as good as the last.
"Every drop of Shiner is made in Shiner," Shiner Brewery, Director of Operations, Tom Fiorenzi said.
The brewery produces 40,000 cases of beer on a weekly basis.
Small batch or big batch, each bottle is part of a story.
"You're drinking a lot of history. 110 ten years next year," Fiorenzi said.
The Brewery was established in the town of Shiner in 1909 by German and Czech immigrants who decided they needed a little piece of home.
"Now, they didn't make really good beer and they realized it real quickly," Fiorenzi said.
That’s when they enlisted the help of Kosmos Spoetzl.
His passion for beer has kept Shiner flowing through prohibition and kept him on as brew master till the 1950’s.
To this day, the brewery still uses Kosmos’ recipe, a secret kept guarded since the 1900’s
"It is a special recipe and there are very, very few people that know it," Fiorenzi said.
These days, the four brew masters combine craft and science in each batch.
"We love the fact that all the raw materials and all the tradition of the science,” Fiorenzi said.
In their lab, they’ve created popular varieties like Strawberry Blonde, Ruby Red and Holiday Cheer.
"We really have a fun time. Between all the brew masters we sit around and talk about what's something from a pride standpoint we want to do something a little bit different," Fiorenzi said.
But before they can start to brew a new batch of beer it has to pass one final test in San Antonio.
"Ultimately we think we've got it right and we take it back to Mr. Alvarez and he gives it that seal of approval," Fiorenzi said.
"I think it's important for those who are crafting the beer that they know that the guy at the top is interested in keeping up with what they are creating," The Gambrinus Company, owner, Carlos Alvarez said.
Owner, Carlos Alvares, has been part of the beer making process at Shiner Beer for the last 30 years, but his love of beer started back in Mexico.
"I would work at my father's beer distributorship in Mexico… And I was responsible for bringing in Corona beer in the United States," Alvarez said.
Alvarez came to know the Shiner Brand during the late 70’s music scene in Austin.
"I became acquainted with Shiner. Drank it and drank it quite a bit, and enjoyed it quite a bit," Alvarez said. "I had seen how the beer had a very small but very significant passionate following.”
After establishing The Gambrinus Company he noticed his favorite craft beer was on a downward spiral in trying to compete with the larger domestic breweries.
Alvarez took the leap by buying the company in 1989 and kept it going.
All these years later, Shiner beer remains the number one craft beer in Texas.
"I was dancing with this 80 year-old lady in 1989 and next year she'll be 110 and I'll still be dancing... it's something that makes me feel extremely proud because it's a part of Texas,” Alvarez said.