Ever since I saw the bar scene in Quentin Tarentino's Death Proof I wanted to try Shiner Bock or any of the Shiner brews. But up until a little over a year ago, drinking anything from the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, Texas meant I would have to be traveling outside the state of New York. This made drinking a Shiner beer feel special. Even though the taste of the Bock is nothing amazing, it still felt special to drink one. But now that it is easily available in New York it is often an afterthought when I look through the beer aisle. But recently their latest limited offering caught my eye. Shiner Birthday Beer is a chocolate stout that commemorates the 106th anniversary of their brewery. With winter still in full swing, trying a rich chocolate stout seemed like a wonderful idea. Unfortunately, Shiner Birthday Beer did not live up to expectations.
Shiner Birthday Beer pours a dark black with ruby highlights and a light tan head. It looks unusually thin for a chocolate stout. but with an ABV of 5% this does not come as a surprise. The aroma is rich with chocolate. The chocolate in the aroma is almost so strong it became a challenge to find anything else. I think I detected some smoke but that might have been reaching. The flavor is full of candy sweet chocolate and roasted malt. There seems to be little to no complexity though. The chocolate dominates the flavor and then it washes away cleanly. The mouth feel doesn't feel right either. A beer like this should be at least a little thicker, Shiner Birthday Beer is so thin it seems like it would fit in nicely with the Michelob Ultra line of beers.
Overall I would rate Shiner Birthday Beer a 2/5. It has a thin one note flavor but delivers if you are looking for a chocolate fix.
Rating Scale:
1 - Repugnant and undrinkable
2 - Acceptable but forgettable
3 - Good, worth a purchase
4 - Excellent, a step above the norm
5 - Truly exceptional
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Thanks for reading. Sláinte!
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