Shiner White Wing

Spoetzel Brewery

Shiner, TX

Style: Wheat Ale

ABV: 4.6%

As the subject of a late-night, work-weary beer review, this bottle brought a bright, pleasant coda to my day. Brewed in Shiner, TX, by Spoetzel Brewery, Shiner White Wing is billed as a Belgian-style wheat ale. It sports a refined, nearly-twee label design that wouldn’t look out of place in a Wes Anderson film. After popping the cap, a whiff of a yeasty, mildly dank aroma hints at Belgian things to come. It pours the color of pale golden straw, lightly fogged with a milkiness typical of the style. It’s topped by a modest, sharply white head. The foam recedes quickly, leaving a light bouquet of golden raisins, pineapples and granny smiths. In the mouth, the sharp carbonation contrasts nicely against a slight creaminess. Notes of peppery coriander and orange peel appear on the tongue, followed by a true-to-style evocation of wheat cereal character and a wonderfully dry finish. Almost everything about White Wing perches as lightly as the sparrow it sports on its label. Shiner describes it as an “odd bird,” and for them and their german-centric portfolio it might be—but for us consumers, it is simply a lovely wheat beer, eminently sessionable.

—Peter Johnstone