Shiner Light

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

Serve in Dimpled mug, English pint, Lager glass, Shaker

Glowing dark gold color with white foam. Corn syrup, cereal grain aromas. frothy light mouthfeel. Toasted cereal grain flavors with a crisp, clean, perfectly sterile finish.

Bottle. Pours gold with an amber hue with a thin white head. Aroma is weak with notes of sweet malts. Flavor is watery with notes of sweet malts.

12oz bottle. dark gold under a creamy, off-white head. subtle toasty malt aroma. light body with a refreshing carbonation. the flavor has a nice toasted malt character. a hint of bitterness. this is an awesome light beer! this should be on tap everywhere.

For a light beer, this is pretty good. Smooth watery taste, but leaps and bounds better than any other domestic light beer.

“Light” beer… just saying it/thinking it/seeing it tends to be an immediate discouragement of any and all enthusiasm I have for the quaffing about to commence. Why? Because light is all well and good; look to Europe and their rich history of vibrant table/mild beers. Brilliant! And therein lays the problem. When approached by a modernized economized light beer I am faced with: light alcohol, light calories, and especially light taste. More times than not, it resembles fizzy seltzer water than a good “light” beer. Casting a leery eye upon the Shiner Light, I have reservations, but I’m a sucker for hope. There is always hope.

My Shiner Light poured rather attractive clear amber and orange with a small head that fades into a thin ringlet. Her nose is bright with melba, golden bread crust, lemon skin, pith, and a hint of crunchy sweetness that ends with a burble of spritzy mineral water. Nice. I am aptly impressed with the nose. Not a European inspired table/mild beer by any means, but on nose alone she is appropriately impressive for the domestic light variety. Passing go I draw deep for my first quaff and am met by an equally light and bright body with a lemon spritzer mouthfeel. Melba toast and crunchy golden sugars offer outstanding support upon which gentle lemon esters and faint grains stand. Her front and finish are short and nothing to write home about. The whole of the Shiner Light’s palate hits hard and fast in the middle and then disappears just as quickly. The more I quaff, the more I come to the conclusion that her body is actually lighter than initially thought. Her overly bubbly and spritzy mouthfeel gives the allusion to a fuller body than is actually there. A few more quaffs and that is all she wrote. Like a wallflower, you pay attention when it’s right there in front of you, but as soon as she passes out of view not even a recollection remains.

Overall, far better than I was expecting, though I will still never be a fan of “light” beers. It boils down to principles of olfactory and oral quality: I want to smell and taste my beer. It can be of the lowest ABV possible or the highest; either way I desire quality and diversity of taste and smells. A plethora of pleasures, so to speak. Shiner Light was alright, but easily forgettable in a sea of similarly homogenized light beers.

Pours a dark golden with a white head. Aroma is light grainy malt and some toasty notes. Flavor is light malt and very light bitterness.

From a 12-oz bottle from Safeway, this poured a clear golden color with a small sized white head and very light lacing. . Nose of grains and wet straw.. Light body but OK mouthfeel. Flavor is also of hay, with some malty sweetness, and light bitterness. Good for a light beer.

A fairly good execution of America’s "mainstream" style. Sure, it’s not as good as Spoetzl’s other products or most "craft" beers but when compared to the "light" pale lagers from most large breweries, Shiner Light compares very favorably due to the fact that you can taste the hops, it doesn’t have a malty aftertaste, and that it has real lager flavor.