Welcome back, Texas Special

Shiner's revived brand aims to compete in the "drinkable" Texas beer category

On Texas Independence Day, Shiner re-introduced its historic “Texas Special” brand, rolling out draft beer at bars and restaurants around the state. (The rollout to stores is going a little slower, but it should be pretty broadly distributed by the end of April, I’ve been told.)

Their press release said that “Texas Special” was introduced at the end of Prohibition in 1933, but that sounded a little suspect to me. I asked Texas beer history expert Charles Staats and he told me it was introduced in 1950 after Kosmos Spoetzl died and his daughter, Cecelie Spoetzl, took over the brewery.

And, yes, he was right. I found an Aug. 24, 1950 story in the Shiner Gazette that confirms this.

The story said that “Texas Special” marked the first change in the brewing of Shiner beer since 1914 and was a lighter, milder beer, because that’s what the public wanted.

I talked to Nick Weiland, the brand director for Shiner, last Friday, and while I have to save most of our conversation for a possible freelance story, the highlight is that Shiner was amenable to recasting their message on Texas Special, based on what I found. (Unlike Lone Star, which stubbornly held onto their “since 1884” lie. Here’s the story I wrote about that for Texas Monthly.)

Nick said that while determining the date of the beer, they were working off of dated photographs and old business records. I would have hoped Shiner would have an official historian, but that’s not the way corporations really work these days.

Nick also said that Texas Special isn’t going to have Shiner branding on it, because it is a “different value proposition.” Ultimately, they see a market for a cheaper, “drinkable” Texas beer.

I asked him directly if Texas Special is taking a shot at Lone Star and he didn’t mention Lone Star by name, but said they weren’t interested in “making the cheapest beer at the cheapest price.” You can interpret that how you wish, but it sounds like a jab at Lone Star to me. He did say Texas Special was meant to fight back at beers such as Bud and Miller falsely trying to position themselves as Texas brands.

Nick also said that while they don’t have the precise recipe for the original Texas Special, they do know what ingredients were used at the time and have tried to make a beer that is at least representative of the original Texas Special.

I know you’re used to a wide range of Shiner beers, but for 20 years, Texas Special was the only Shiner beer, with the exception of the seasonal bock beer.

Change started coming in 1966, when Bill Bigler of San Antonio purchased the brewery from Cecelie Spoetzl. Bigler told the San Antonio Express and News that he had no intention of changing the name of the brewery or its beer. And in 1967, Texas Special was advertised heavily by the brewery.

An Aug. 1, 1968, story in the Austin American-Statesman said that new stockholders had purchased the brewery, which was described as “struggling” and that Edward Badouh Sr. was the new president.

There was no brewery advertising in 1968. Starting in 1969, the “Texas Special” version of the Shiner logo is still being used by some local advertisers at small newspapers, but most references to Shiner’s brew are just “Shiner Beer.”

Staats tells me — and the newspaper record agrees — that the beer was renamed Shiner Premium in 1970. He says he believes this was done so the beer wouldn’t be confused with Texas Pride, brewed by Pearl.

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How is it? I tried it last night and I was very impressed. It’s very much like a more “drinkable” version of Shiner Premium. It’s not going to satisfy craft beer folks, but it very well could step in and be a Texas beer for the people who like regular old beer-flavored beer.

The very first “Texas Special” bottle from 1950. Photo by Charles Staats.