Shiner 97 Bohemian Black Lager

Brewed by Spoetzl Brewery (Gambrinus Company)
Style: Schwarzbier
Shiner, Texas USA

Dark brown appearance with an average size tan head and nice lacing. Appealing roasted malt aroma. Taste is mildly bitter, modestly hopped, but the emphasis is on the roasted ,malts. Decent start but finished thin with little distingishing characeristics. A simple pleasure, inexpensive and accessible

From a bottle poured nice and dark with a good amount of head. Nice flavor a little watery with a quick finish.

Pours dark brown, burgundy when held to light, with a thin fizzy head that diminishes quickly to a ring of bubbles clinging to the edge of the glass. On the nose is smoky toasted malt with a faint, sweeter chocolate note in the background. Light-bodied with fine, assertive carbonation and a fairly short and mildly dry finish. The flavor follows the nose, more-or-less, with a lightly sweet and grassy-hopped finish. While not really a great example of the style, this is quite a bit better than its ubiquitous cousin, Shiner Bock.

12 oz botle pours a clear reddish -brown with a thin off white head. Aroma of roasted malt. Flavor is roasted malt, some light coffee, and some bitterness. Better than I expected.

Pours almost jet black and is a murky red-brown color when held to the light. Moderate to small head but lots of pretty lacing is left on the glass. Potent nose of molasses and burned coffee. Contradicting the power of the nose is a distinctly understated taste. Taste is of coffee and malts but very mild... Surprisingly so, considering the dark color and potent nose. Very brief finish of coffee and dark chocolate.

Poured into Red Sox pint glass. Very dark in color, but not completely devoid of light. Smells of dark, almost burnt malt. Dark coffee scent as well. First sip is surprisingly light given the color and scent. Not overpowering. Very rich and burnt malt aftertaste that lingers long after.

12 ounce bottle at Old Chicago. Pours black with lots of bubbles and a light brown head. Light aroma of roast malts and noble hops. Again with some roasted flavor plus chocolate and a clean bitter finish. Medium body. Hight carbonation. Dry bitter finish. Nice enough.

Cool, a new shiner. Good or bad, it still has that ’shiner’ flavor inside it. More in the palate after you have a swallow, if youre use to the flavor of their bock this will seem similar. That drops the rating for me a bit, because I want something a little stronger, even though i love their beer. Going back to the strength, its not as strong as you might expect. Shiner has a way of packing alot of flavor into a beer, yet retaining a thin body. Some may like that, other may not, but the beer is a little to thin for this style. Its basically a SamAdams black lager, but not as good. Im still rating it fairly high, because its damn good no doubt, I just expected a little more.