We enjoyed our visit to Spoetzl Brewery. What a wonderful history. The tours are hosted by long term Shiner employees. Our tour was about 30 minutes and the guide did an excellent job. We enjoyed some free Shiner beer. Bock and Premium are excellent. We used the "back roads" Austin to and from Shiner, looking at Flatonia, Yoakum, Cuero and Gonzales.
I'm a bit biased here, because I'm a huge fan of their Shiner Bock beer. But this tour is worth the hour or so stop-plus you get to sample their beers!
The tour is nice if you go on a day without a lot of other people there. It was a 1 1/2 hr drive for us and the toru was barely 30 min
As the only thing to do in Shiner, its not too shabby. We were meeting a larger group there and so the tour guide reserved us for the next start. Cool thing is you don't need to do the tour first to get your tastings, which saves time waiting in line after the tour. The copper barrels upstairs are gorgeous and make sure you do not touch them because the guides will yell at you (I didn't do this, but someone else is my group felt her wrath). As avid brewery tourists, they have the best collection of metal signs, so many options and all are great! At the end of the day though, I don't know if I would drive specifically here without being in Shiner for a reason.
This was a fun thing to do on our way to San Antonio. The tour was interesting, the free beer was great and we got some cute beer glasses as a souvenir. It was neat to see how the beer is made and bottled and packaged all right there in one place - it's incredible how much is produced in what seems like a small brewery/factory.
I was there on a Saturday, and there are no tours on the weekends. However, there are still free samples. You are given four samples, each about 4-6 oz., and there's a choice of 7 different beers (and a non-alcoholic lemonade).
Missed the brewery tour because it was a Saturday. But the free beer tasting was great, the staff were friendly and the gift shop had interesting stock at reasonable prices.
Four of us were welcomed to this brewery in the small town of Shiner, TX on a weekday afternoon but the tour filled up quickly. This is a popular brand that has expanded their distribution area exponentially over the last decade. In fact, much of the tour has been cut off due to their facility expansion but it is still worth the visit. Not much else is in town of any interest. When you arrive you check in at the gift shop and are given 4 wooden tokens each good for a cup of any of about 8 current Shiner offerings. What a deal! The tour is free also. After the tour, you can get another beer or two and sit outside at the tables and chairs set up for guests. Very pleasant and enjoyable. The Shiner area is very rural and pretty with a Czech and German heritage and influence.
We drove 2 hours to see this historic brewery. The history was neat and you get free beer tasting. It is a small brewery with a short tour. They are expanding and there is a lot of construction. The staff was very friendly but there are only specific times they do tours so make sure you check their website for times. There is not very much to do in the town so don't think you can kill few hours around town before the tour.