Beer #15- Shiner Bock

Some people are cocky. Some people are cocky about weird things. Take Texas for instance. People are cocky about being from Texas. It's a strange neurosis. But not all people, places, or things in Texas are cocky about nothing. Some have a quiet confidence that has withstood the test of time. And this particular thing is found in Shiner, Texas.

It’s easy to get cocky. My cockiness, while present sometimes, is subtle. Confidence is a good thing. Cockiness is a bad thing. I tend to re-learn this lesson often, and in often humiliating ways. One of the ways I learned this lesson happened last night.

If you are an avid reader of my blog, you will know that I recently got moved up the line at the restaurant, and am now on the flat-top, cooking the main dishes. It was Friday night, 5 p.m. It was my second or third night on the grill and I was ready. My blood was pumping, ears perked and ready for the sound of the tickets to start rolling in. I had my station set up with everything I needed, double wielding my spatulas and almost bowing, ready to prove myself. Around 5:20, the tickets started rolling in and I was rolling with them- almost scoffing at each item that was yelled at me to make.

I had 3 large plates in the cheeseburner, one stacked a bit against the other. The cheeseburner is located at my forehead, and is an open boiler with hell-like flames that lick at the tips of my head and squeeze the sweat out of my pores on my forehead. Plates are put here so you can get food that is hot and delicious.

And then it happened.

In the midst of pulling one plate out of the burner, the other started to shift and slid out, falling right at the flat-top with tremendous speed, as if leaving behind a comet-like tail and shattered. The kitchen stopped. The servers stop yelling. The manager sighed as I gazed into his eyes to see whether his reaction would be merciful or necessarily livid. He looked at me and said, "Take everything out. Trash it. Clean it."

For the rest of the night we were behind by at least 8 tickets. My cockiness was shattered much like that plate. But I knew it wasn’t time to throw in the towel. I tightened my apron and started cooking. And we made it. After fours hours of non-stop tickets, turn after turn, we broke a record at the restaurant, and no ticket went more than 20 minutes. Success.

I learned confidence in the kitchen last night only by having my cockiness shattered.

And that is what Shiner Bock does best in a state full of cocky-headed-ninny-muggins.

Shiner stands tall, and without the necessity of million dollar marketing campaigns.

The pour of Shiner Bock is a dark brown pour, always with the perfect amount of head (if poured right). The smell is richly malted with a deep earthy tone. And the taste is simple and somewhat surprising. For as dark as the Bock looks, the drink is an almost medium-light pristine thirst quencher. Shiner Bock makes this style of Dark-Malted beer deliciously drinkable, and amazingly seasonal. Perfect for hot summer days, yet also just as good when the leaves start to turn in the fall... But we all know what we're drinking then...

In any case, Shiner Bock delivers with a steady confidence, although somewhat defiled on every beer list when put between the Miller Light and Bud, it is prize in the midst of the garbage. Shiner Bock stands as a statuesque "Domestic" and teaches us that not everything that comes from Texas is a cocky bastard for no purposeful reason.


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I give Shiner Bock a confident 86.


Look: Dark Brown
Smell: Malt
Taste: Medium-Light Bodied Malty and Crisp



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Brett's ratings are out of 100.

*Please understand that ratings on this scale have been influenced by my scholastic history of grading. A grade below 75 is not good, it is less than average. A beer below 60 is bad. Beers in the 90s are in the upper-echelon of beers on this earth, and above 95- divinely inspired.*

As with all connoisseurs, personal taste affects all ratings. The best ratings tend to lean towards his two different biases; 1) Well-crafted heavy Stouts and 2) Lagers made with a simple perfection.

Please understand that just because Brett gives a beer a high rating doesn't mean you may think it is good. Only understand that if he gives it a high rating it is because most people who have a good taste in beer would do the same.