<p>&nbsp;</p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><span style="font-size: small;">Just as ballet has the Nutcracker Suite and theater the Christmas Carol, beer makers have Winter Warmers.</span></span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><span style="font-size: small;">Search the Beer Advocate for Winter Warmers, which sounds like a brew from Eddie Bauer, and there's more than 400 listed, with names like Ale Mary or XXXmas Beer. To put that total in perspective it includes past years since brewers often change their Christmas offering every year.</span></span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><span style="font-size: small;">Based on the descriptions there and my tastes of about six of them recently these are dark beers with something in there that makes you wonder. It can be a vague taste of cinnamon or fruit or ...well it's hard to say, but it's there, and hopefully not so strongly that it gets in the way and turns this stuff in wassail or something.</span></span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><span style="font-size: small;">The tradition goes back to Europe and this <a href="http://www.allaboutbeer.com/homebrew/warmer.html">sto</a>ry, puts Salvator - an old family favorite-in the role of John the Baptist making way for Christmas beers to come.</span></span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in">&nbsp;</p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in">&nbsp;</p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in 1.15pt 0.5in"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;">European brewers have been making special beers for the holiday season for hundreds of years. Perhaps the earliest of these was Salvator, the original doppelbock beer. The Franciscan monks who came to the Munich area from Paula, Italy in the 17^th century created a strong beer to sustain them during their Advent and Lenten fasts. Not surprisingly, they named it "the Savior," both because of their daily focus on the true meaning of these seasons and because the hearty beer helped them to survive their fasts. <br style="mso-special-character: line-break" /><br style="mso-special-character: line-break" /></span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><span style="font-size: small;">Here's the Beer Advocate's <a href="http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/47/">take</a> on this extremely loose category:</span></span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in">&nbsp;</p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in 1.15pt 0.5in"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">These malty sweet offerings tend to be a favorite winter seasonal. Big malt presence, both in flavor and body. The color ranges from brownish reds to nearly pitch black. Hop bitterness is generally low, leveled and balanced, but hop character can be pronounced. Alcohol warmth is not uncommon. <br /><br />Many English versions contain no spices, though some brewers of spiced winter seasonal ales will slap "Winter Warmer" on the label. Those that are spiced, tend to follow the "wassail" tradition of blending robust ales with mixed spices, before hops became the chief "spice" in beer. American varieties many have a larger presences of hops both in bitterness and flavor.</span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in 1.15pt 0.5in">&nbsp;</p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><span style="font-size: small;">These offerings can challenge my sense of beerness. But perhaps this is just narrow thinking. So I had this year's Anchor Steam Christmas Ale and it is was really good. Dark with a restrained spice - maybe cinnamon?</span></span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><span style="font-size: small;">Some are likable but not so different. Sierra Nevada Celebration tastes like a good IPA, or as my brother pronounced -- tastes like a Sierra Nevada -- as he happily consumed it.</span></span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><span style="font-size: small;">St. Arnold's offering tasted a bit like its Elisa, also an IPA, but with something else in there, which was a good idea.</span></span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><span style="font-size: small;">At the other extreme Widmer Brrr was a test of my resolve to finish my pint - its slogan could be, you'll drink just one' </span></span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><span style="font-size: small;">And my brother and I struggled to finish a sample of Shiner Holiday Cheer. I defy anyone to say they didn't go all out on this one. This comment in the Beer Advocate is how I remember it:</span></span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in">&nbsp;</p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in 1.15pt 0.5in"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">This beer is incredibly fragrant, and I think I like it. As soon as you open the bottle you get hit in the face with fruit, and even with the glass sitting a little over a foot away, I can still smell it. That peach they used in the brewing definitely comes through and add a wonderful fruit quality that dominates the nose. Actually, I really can't get past the peach, so as much as I like the nose, I'm disappointed that I can't get some familiar characteristics.</span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in 1.15pt 0.5in"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><span style="font-size: small;">I like dark beer, and I'm trying to expand my palate, so I'm behind a push to create lots of dark beers with a difference. And it's not experimentation unless some of it turns out just bad wrong.</span></span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p style="MARGIN: 1.15pt 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><span style="font-size: small;">What do you like and dislike of this bunch and where am I just wrongheaded?</span></span></p>

The Shiner Brewery is celebrating is 100th in appropriate fashion – with a beer that says a lot about where’s this Texas institution has been and where it’s going. I bought a six-pack of Commemorator – a great name by a company with perfect pitching for selling longnecks—and drank a couple with the Super Bowl with a friend who’s favorite beer if Shiner Bock ( but he’s always open to new ideas). Brad’s take was, it’s good but for the 100th anniversary he was hoping for better. For perspective I’d bought a six of another new offering, St. Arnold’s Spring Bock, because in Houston the Super Bowl marks the end of football season and the first signs of spring on the way. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/DN-nf_shiner_1203gd.State.Edition1.246aeff.html Commemorator is a dark lager – a story about the anniversary from the San Antonio Express News calls it a dopplebock—which would be the logical next beer-making step for a brewery whose resurgence was built on the back of its popular bock beer. And like a lot of things that come out of Shiner I like, I think it’s a good thing to drink but I’m not blown away by it. Part of the problem is the beer type – if you are expecting a dopplebock it comes up short of a pretty extreme type of beer typified by that German classic Salvator. It’s got more going on than Shiner Bock but this isn’t a company that does extreme. Like my college career, this one gets a lot of Bs according to the Beer Advocate reviews that I looked at because I’m no expert. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/143/47098 The drinkability is decent. I really wanted to like this one, but it is not as good as their black lager. I say this despite a strong preference for the style. Oh well...there's always 101. By far the very best beer I have had from Shiner. This should become a regular and a launching pad for more good beers. As Shiner Bock was my first beer to ever drink, I have a fondness for the brewery. With that said, I have to say this is thee worst beer I have ever had from Shiner. This beer just reminds me of the taste you wake up with in the morning, after a long night of drinking cheap beer Taste -- like an improved Shiner Bock. Pretty good maltiness. A little sweet. Drinkability: Pretty good. I could drink a few of these. The last one pretty much sums up what Shiner does well. It’s not a beer that stops you after the first step to ask, what did I just taste? But after a few of them it’s not annoying you. During the Super owl I found myself getting annoyed with the sweetness of the St. Arnolds. So Commemorator beat out a beer I paid $2 a six pack more for. And I just hope they keep putting out new beers. Shiner isn’t trying to Dogfish here but it has built a nearly national market by offering something good for a long afternoon of smoking brisket can have some character. It’s a good story. The place that plays up its distant past – when Kosmos Spoetzl would drive around in in Model T with iced kegs,offering a taste to Central Texas farmers – also has its tied dyed side as well according to this account from TexasBreweries.com. http://www.texasbreweries.com/shiner.htm Brewery records indicate that Bock was brewed here as early as 1917, but its popularity is a relatively recent phenomenon that owes to the old Austin hippie scene. Shiner premium became a popular beer for members of the Austin counterculture in the early 1970s for a variety of reasons (including low price). But when a seasonal shipment of Shiner Bock rode into town about 1975, it was "love at first quaff." By 1978, Spoetzl was brewing Bock year round to supply the Austin market. And they seem to have a sense of humor. I liked this joke that first appeared in the San Antonio Express-News back in 2000. After the Great International Beer Festival, all the brewery presidents decided to go out for a beer. The guy from Corona sits down and says, "Hey, señor, I would like the world's best beer, a Corona." The bartender takes a bottle from the shelf and gives it to him. The guy from Budweiser says, "I'd like the best beer in the world, 'the king of beers,' a Budweiser." The bartender gives him one. The guy from Coors says, "I'd like the only beer made with Rocky Mountain spring water. Give me a Coors." He gets it. The guy from Shiner sits down and says, "Give me a Coke." The bartender is a little taken aback, but gives him what he ordered. The other brewery presidents look over at him and ask, "Why aren't you drinking a Shiner?" The Shiner President replies, "I figured if you guys aren't drinking beer, neither would I." Nobody with a Shiner longneck in their hand can doubt they’ve got a real beer – excect for that wretched Christmas mess of their's -- and you can’t say that about everything you buy.