Shine On: 100 Years of Shiner Beer

by Mike Renfro
Bright Sky Press, 192 pp., $34.95

I had my first taste of Shiner Bock back in 1984 while working at Threadgill’s when I ordered “a beer I’ve never had before.” It quickly became a favorite, and the only Amer­ican beer I found palatable at the time. Little did I know that inside the dark bottle with the old-timey label was the liquid history of a small Central Texas town. In Shine On, Mike Renfro captures 100 years around “the little brewery that could” in a loving tribute. The book is full of heartwarming stories, hilarious anecdotes, and fabulous archival photos, with a cast of characters as interesting and varied as the current Shiner beer lineup. Through his witty, laid-back writing, Renfro chronicles the arrival of German-Czech immigrant Kosmo Spoetzl to Shiner, the founding of his brewery in 1909, the trials and tribulations of Prohi­bi­tion, the “discovery” by the Armadillo crowd in Austin, and the rescue of the failing brewery by another immigrant, Carlos Alvarez, and the subsequent Shiner conquest of the nation. This book is a must for any Texas beer lover or anyone who loves Texas, or both.

Sunday, 11-11:45am, Lifestyle Tent

This article appears in John McCain.

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Mexico City native Claudia Alarcón has made Austin home since 1984. She worked her way through college in the local restaurant industry, graduating from the University of Texas in 1999. She has been a Chronicle contributor for 15 years and presents lectures and workshops on topics related to the foodways of Mexico, both locally and internationally.