Shiner Kölsch (Summer Stock)

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

(12oz bottle) Sparkling clear apple juice body with small white head. Aroma is medium sweet, herbal/grassy, some cereal. Taste is medium sweet, cereal, some herbal/grassy, light honey. Light body, some crispness.

A golden/yellow pour. An aroma of corn and a hint of malt. A clean crisp beer. Had it at Pat Obrien’s on the river walk in San Antonio. It was hot outside and this beer was colder than I usually drinkem. I thought it was very good so I had another and I was right.

Not a kolsch fan which probably skews my vote but did not like this beer. Thin, schwill taste that reminded me of Budweiser or Miller. Has that cheap macro flavor.

12 oz bottle from Woodmans on Gammon Road in Madison, WI served a bit below cellar temperature in a Christoffel glass. Largish fluffy white head dies fairly slowly atop the clear shiny gold body....bready, cereal-malty nose, little hops to be distinguished, but clean and fairly fresh....smooth, clean body, plenty of pale malt and a hint of crystal, faint touches of grassy hops struggling for bitter notice....quick finish, low carbonation, a bit too sugary but really not bad at all.

Bottle. Clearish gold, with a thin head. Wheat nose with some veggies. Bubbly and crisp. Slight bitterness and light bodied mouthfeel. Not bad.

Pours straw yellow with a small white head. The aroma is slightly vegatal, some floral hops, very ligjht. The flavor is also light, some hay and grass, light bread. The mouthfeel is light and crisp.

12 oz bottle


I picked this up since it was a kolsch, and I’d never had one. I should have passed and kept looking for a better example. This was very disappointing in almost every way. I should have expected as much from a Shiner beer, but now I won’t be fooled again.

Aroma / Appearance - There is a reasonable nose but nothing inviting. A somehow bland combination of malt, wheat, grain and stale hay form an aroma that is neither offensive nor exciting. It’s just meh. The appearance is fine - bronze, actively carbonated with a one-finger off white head.

Flavor / Palate - Oranges, lemon and a faint waxy chocolate (like cheap Cadbury’s or Hershey’s) are the ’highlights’ of this beer. The malt is obvious from the start. Overall it is extremely easy to drink but also very dull. There was nothing about this beer that screamed drink me again except for the fact it left nothing on my palate. If you must drink this, do it quickly and get on to something else.

The aroma is malty with a small amount of floral hops. The appearance is golden with a small head. The flavor is cereal malt and some astringent hops. The palate is very thin but overall it’s not bad at all, just one-dimensional.