The Spoetzl Brewery began in 1909 in Shiner, Texas as the Shiner Brewing Association, and is the oldest independent brewery in Texas. In 1914 a German immigrant brewer named Kosmos Spoetzl co-leased the association with Oswald Petzold with an option to buy in 1915. Spoetzl's beer proved popular with the large German and Czech immigrant population in the Texas Hill Country. During prohibition, the brewery stayed afloat by selling ice and "near beer," allowing it to remain in business while many other breweries failed.
The brewery, now the fourth-largest craft brewery in the United States, produces beers under the name "Shiner." The flagship and most popular beer is "Shiner Bock", a dark German lager which comprises about three quarters of the brewery's production. Shiner has gained a loyal following in America and especially in central Texas, possibly due in part to the fact that the Spoetzl Brewery often donates several kegs of the beer for free consumption at many popular events in the Texas Hill Country, including San Antonio and Austin. The brewery has a prominent tent at and is a sponsor of Austin's yearly Texas Craft Brewers Festival. (Full article...)