Photos By Phelan M. Ebenhack
Right: Ninety-year-old Shiner brewery employee Herbert Siems relaxes with long-time friend
Arnold Stanek — both were born and raised in Shiner. Stanek has known Siems all his life,
and now regularly stops by the brewery to drink a beer and check up on Siems. Siems has
enjoyed pouring free beers to visitors a! the brewery for 26 years and claims, "I've got the best
damn job in town."
Below: Bottles of Shiner Bock beer await packaging at the back of the brewery.
By Yvonne Salce
B ehind cow pastures, alongside Boggy Creek is
Texas’ only little hometown brewery and the
heart of Shiner, Texas.
The 82-year-old K. Spoetzl Brewery produces
38,000 barrels of Shiner beer a year, and draws any
where from one to 40 visitors a day who come to tour
the small factory and drink free beer.
The brewery, which employes 36 people, produces
2,000 a bottles of beer a day. Most employees have
been working in the K. Spoetzl Brewery for at least 28
years.
Herbert Siems is no exception.
Siems, born and raised in Shiner, helped build the
brewery in 1909. He now operates the hospitality room
a tiny, warm room where visitors and locals can hear
and smell Shiner beer being brewed, but most impor
tantly taste the secret formula.
Many of the locals start coming in around 10 a.m. to
get their complimentary beer.
“The first beer is free,” says Siems, “and then I hand
them two tokens for two more free beers.
"Out-of-towners can drink as much as they want,”
he adds.
F riends, oldtimers and visitors drop in to quench
their thirst and consume the welcoming atmo
sphere. Arnold G. Stanek, a 75-year-old retired
teacher, has known Siems ail his life.
“I visit Siems eve^day," says Stanek. Raising his
cup of Shiner Bock, he adds, “This is some good
stuff.”
Meanwhile, Siems makes sure no one has an empty
cup, filling them up with either Shiner Premium or
Bock, a dark-colored, rich and flavorful beer. Some
might refer to Bock as an “acquired taste,” but Siems
says the beers are equally popular.
"We have Bock on tap, all year round," he says. “We
get a lot of people in here. Sometimes in the afternoon,
you can't get in this place.”
People come in from all over the country to visit the
quaint-looking brewery.
The tour, lasting at. average of 15 minutes, begins in
the “powerhouse" or engine room where two boilers
produce enough steam for brewing and pasteurizing.
March 21,1991 Life Style magazine