Holiday Cheer - Spoetzl Brewery, Shiner

Ah the elusive Shiner Holiday Cheer... I was only able to find this beer at a single restaurant last year. After having a bottle of last year's Holiday Cheer I went to a number of liquor stores looking for a six pack but no one in the area had it in stock. This year I was lucky enough to find some Holiday Cheer at the store and pick up a couple. This is an interesting take on the Christmas seasonal. It isn't a traditional Winter Warmer, but it does have a lot in common with those beers. The Holiday Cheer is a Dunkelweizen style dark wheat that's been brewed with pecans and peaches. Those added flavors push this Dunkelweizen into Winter Warmer territory by giving it a sweet and nutty flavor. There's very little bitterness in this beer but the parallels are otherwise quite obvious.

Shiner's Holiday Cheer is a medium bodied, sweet Dunkelweizen that has a great combination of flavors. There's nothing inherently festive about a dark wheat beer, but the nutty and citrusy flavors just seem to work. I don't feel overwhelmed with the holiday spirit when I drink this beer, but I do feel compelled to go back for more and more. The peach flavors here are rich and are a nice contrast to the earthy pecans. The maltiness in this beer isn't too sweet which ends up being a good thing because you're able to appreciate the citrus flavors even more.

This wouldn't be my first choice as an example of traditional holiday beer, but Shiner's Holiday Cheer is an excellent example of what can be done by expanding a beer's flavor profile. The inclusion of peach and pecan here has really taken this Dunkelweizen to a new level.