Shiner Commemorator
Spoetzl Brewing
Shiner, TX

Reviewed by Ye Olde Scribe

6.7% ABV, 17 IBU

Texasbeer.com lists this as a traditional Doppelbock but the bottle lists it as the far less official “German stark style.” (Stark means “strong,” unless you’re Scribe and then it means the kind of dark, foreboding, Goth-ish world left behind by Junior and his ilk. What is an “ilk” anyway? Is that what Biggus Dickus was hunting when he threatened to murder his hunting pal after the first “warning shot?” Do we refer to an Elk with her progeny as “As Elk and her ‘ilk?'”)

It does use the traditional “-ator” moniker that Dopplelbocks often use. Yet the brewery says it’s an ale. Bocks are lagers, with the exception of Weizenbock. Like Dan Quayle was no Jack Kennedy, this is no Weizenbock. (Scribe is just practicing his… WITTE, or being a Weiss beer-guy. Proving that, like Wesley Crusher playing the lead role in a Broadway version of Little Miss Muffet, where there’s a Wil WHEATon there’s a… whey.)

While not “watery” as a reviewer mentioned at shopping.com, like the thoughts in Glen Beck’s head it does lack complexity. No hops. No jumps. No skips. No fouls. Well… maybe a little when it comes to either the water or the yeast.

The malt is sweet. Scribe didn’t ask for a date however, or a raisins, or a plum. Malt nose combined with heavily caramelization. How do you malt a nose? Is there Munich in here, Vienna or maybe just a little bit of the old German exhibit at the 60s World’s Fair? (Any one whose lived as long as Scribe knows the world’s NOT “fair.”)

Bit of a nice melanoidin sense. No, that’s NOT related to the NOID. This supposed to be an… ale? The yeasties seem to have whacked those Noids with a small amount of lager-sulfur notes. Maybe the water used? (Sulfur notes are what Satan plays in Hell, and what lager yeasties do to beer. Less esters, more sulfur. Scribe misses his ex girlfriend Ester. “Ester!!!!!!!!!!”) A little Doppelbock-ish. Head low. Deep amber to mid-brown.

For a different assessment here’s a review on Shopping.com…

“Commemorator is less a representative of doppelbocks than it’s a slightly enhanced version of Shiner Bock: it’s thin and watery, short on both alcohol and hops, and about as simplistic as a Rolling Rock. If this is how Spoetzl celebrates its centennial, I see no reason to wait around for year 200.”

-scmrak

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