Spoetzl Brewery

Shiner exists because the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway bypassed Half Moon in 1887 and built through land Henry B. Shiner gave for a depot. Czech and German families made it their town, with a Sokol and a lodge of the Slavonic Benevolent Order. In 1909 local businessmen formed the Shiner Brewing Association so the town would not have to ship its beer in from San Antonio and Houston. The first kegs spoiled, and by 1914 the plant was for lease.

Kosmos Spoetzl took it. He had trained and apprenticed in Germany and brewed for eight years at the Pyramid brewery in Cairo before moving to San Antonio for his health, carrying a family recipe of malt and hops. He bought the brewery in 1915 and kept it alive through Prohibition with near beer and ice, and by some accounts regular beer as well. When he died in 1950 his daughter Cecilie, Miss Celie, became the only woman in the country to own a brewery outright, and she sold Shiner with polka bands and parades. The white brick plant with its Alamo-style front dates from 1947.

The family sold in 1966. Production grew after Carlos Alvarez of San Antonio bought the brewery in 1989, and Shiner Bock, once a Lenten beer, is now most of what is made here. Tours run daily about every half hour, the last at 4:30 p.m., and a distillery and barbecue restaurant have joined the site.