The sixth and final member of the Shiner Family Reunion is the first brew from the Brewer’s Pride collection. Shiner calls this one its Old-Time Alt, or altbier. As far as I know this is the first altbier on Beers and Ears, so let’s start with a description from the bastion of truth and knowledge, Wikipedia.
The name Altbier, which means old beer, refers to the pre-lager brewing method of using a warm top-fermenting yeast. Over time the Alt yeast adjusted to lower temperatures, and the Alt brewers would store or lager the beer after fermentation, leading to a cleaner, crisper beer than is the norm for some other top-fermented beers such as British pale ale.
This copper-colored lager has a crisp, clean taste, a lot of malty flavor with a bit of a hoppy bite to it. I’m enjoying this beer and definitely recommend it. However, the only way to get this one is to purchase a Shiner Family Reunion six pack. Getting a Shiner Family Reunion is a great way to sample many Shiner beers, but unfortunately there’s no way to get a six pack of just this one.
Overall, the Shiner Family Reunion has been quite good; Shiner Blonde being the only exception, and even there there was nothing offensive about it. As a review, here are the other five beers in the pack:
