spoetzl brewery

I was there on a Saturday, and there are no tours on the weekends. However, there are still free samples. You are given four samples, each about 4-6 oz., and there's a choice of 7 different beers (and a non-alcoholic lemonade).

My dad was visiting us and his first job out of college as a chemist was working in a Brewery in Milwaukee. We really enjoyed the samples, the tour and the very knowledable people who were able to answer my fathers questions which were more in depth than most visitor. BUT, because they are doing construction to expland capacity (thats a good thing) the tour no longer includes being able to see the bottling of the beer. My dad was disappointed. They are building a new visitor observation area and I think it is supposed to be done this summer. If seeing the whole process, call before going to see if it is completed.

We were visiting out daughter & son-in-law in Garden Ridge, TX. NE of San Antonio and decided to visit the Shiner Brewery as they have great beer (Shiner Bock). Long drive (about 90 minutes) but enjoyed the 30 minute tour for four samples of beers. We went on a Monday, so there was only about 12 people on the tour. My wife had a hip problem and they had both a wheel chair as well as elevator so that she wouldn't have to climb the stairs for the tour. They are going to open the new bottling plant this summer for tours through a plastic tunnel which should be interesting. Check back in July per the tour guide.

I've been to the "little brewery" in Shiner several times and this was the best by far. The staff is friendly, the tour is informative, and free beer is always welcomed. If you're traveling near there, it's worth the small detour for both the beer and the slice of Americana.

Missed the brewery tour because it was a Saturday. But the free beer tasting was great, the staff were friendly and the gift shop had interesting stock at reasonable prices.

Four of us were welcomed to this brewery in the small town of Shiner, TX on a weekday afternoon but the tour filled up quickly. This is a popular brand that has expanded their distribution area exponentially over the last decade. In fact, much of the tour has been cut off due to their facility expansion but it is still worth the visit. Not much else is in town of any interest. When you arrive you check in at the gift shop and are given 4 wooden tokens each good for a cup of any of about 8 current Shiner offerings. What a deal! The tour is free also. After the tour, you can get another beer or two and sit outside at the tables and chairs set up for guests. Very pleasant and enjoyable. The Shiner area is very rural and pretty with a Czech and German heritage and influence.

The tour is nice if you go on a day without a lot of other people there. It was a 1 1/2 hr drive for us and the toru was barely 30 min

We enjoyed our visit to Spoetzl Brewery. What a wonderful history. The tours are hosted by long term Shiner employees. Our tour was about 30 minutes and the guide did an excellent job. We enjoyed some free Shiner beer. Bock and Premium are excellent. We used the "back roads" Austin to and from Shiner, looking at Flatonia, Yoakum, Cuero and Gonzales.

This is a fun tour that isn't too long. You do get to sample the beer for free. They do limit you by giving you four tokens each. We also went to some of the Painted Churches nearby.

I'm a bit biased here, because I'm a huge fan of their Shiner Bock beer. But this tour is worth the hour or so stop-plus you get to sample their beers!

As the only thing to do in Shiner, its not too shabby. We were meeting a larger group there and so the tour guide reserved us for the next start. Cool thing is you don't need to do the tour first to get your tastings, which saves time waiting in line after the tour. The copper barrels upstairs are gorgeous and make sure you do not touch them because the guides will yell at you (I didn't do this, but someone else is my group felt her wrath). As avid brewery tourists, they have the best collection of metal signs, so many options and all are great! At the end of the day though, I don't know if I would drive specifically here without being in Shiner for a reason.

We drove 2 hours to see this historic brewery. The history was neat and you get free beer tasting. It is a small brewery with a short tour. They are expanding and there is a lot of construction. The staff was very friendly but there are only specific times they do tours so make sure you check their website for times. There is not very much to do in the town so don't think you can kill few hours around town before the tour.

This was a fun thing to do on our way to San Antonio. The tour was interesting, the free beer was great and we got some cute beer glasses as a souvenir. It was neat to see how the beer is made and bottled and packaged all right there in one place - it's incredible how much is produced in what seems like a small brewery/factory.

First I want to say that this is a great place to go, if you're on your way to a different destination and its just a pit stop. I went on the afternoon tour today with my boyfriend, and man was it a pain for the GPS to take us, and then having to deal with the rude semi/truck drivers on the single lane roads. One the plus side it is a fre tour with free tastings, but that is kinda where it ends. I thought the tour was going to be more interesting, and in depth but the tour guide was very bland, and rehearsed also it was maybe a 20 minute tour. I mean yes this is a cool place to go because it's free, and there are the tastings but the overall experience was two stars overall, the thirst one is there cause its free.

We went here since my in-laws were visiting from England. We only found out about the brewery/tour when we were in a Mexican restaurant, and my father-in-law asked for a Chardonnay, and the waitress, not understanding his accent, brought him a Shiner Beer instead.The place was a little bit hard to find. Our GPS took us to the other side of the building instead of where the tour takes place. We decided to turn back and turn into the shipping area. From there, we saw a guest parking lot and figured that's where we should park. The parking lot isn't far from the gift shop which is where you go in for the tour.The gift shop isn't large, but it's a decent size. We didn't buy anything simply because it's a bit expensive. Our tour didn't start until 11, so everyone was hanging around the gift shop. I was surprised with how many people were on the tour considering it was the off season!I forgot to mention the tour is FREE!! You can go up to where they have the beer taps to get a little cup full of beer. They give you three wooden tokens where you'll be able to try three different types of beers or the same type if you'd like. The beer and tokens are also free. I was pregnant, so I didn't drink any beer. However, the lady behind the counter did offer me a cup of lemonade instead which was also free.I had a little bit of trouble hearing the tour guide, but that may be because I wasn't really trying to hard to pay attention since I don't like beer. However, my in-laws and husband found the tour very interesting since they enjoy beer. The tour itself only lasted around 40 minutes at the most.I can't speak for the men's restroom since I didn't go in there, but the women's restroom was very clean.You do have to climb some stairs although there's not many. There's also an elevator for those who can't climb stairs.I felt that staff were friendly. I forgot to mention that in the gift shop, there's little tv room where the history of the Spoetzl Brewery is shown on a loop. The video probably lasts around 5 to 10 minutes and is also very interesting.The only thing I didn't like was the way the hops/malts smelled from the outside, but that's a personal thing.I definitely recommend this place!