Shiner, TX
Shiner citizens are called Shinerites. This is probably the reason they changed the name from Half Moon. It's hard enough to be a Moonie, but a half Moonie? Billed as "The Cleanest Little City in Texas", it certainly lives up to it's name.
Stop in the Chamber of Commerce, if only for the experience of getting to park in front of the large doors. You can pretend that it is still a fire station. The Chamber will provide you with a brochure that will cover all places of interest in Shiner.
Every October 2, Shiner's neighbor Gonzales commemorates the anniversary of the first shot fired for Texas independence. The original cannon was buried to avoid capture and was thought lost until a flood uncovered it in 1936. Since this coincided with the Texas Centennial, there were doubts to it's authenticity. Tests conducted in 1980 confirmed it to be the real McCoy.
The response to the Mexican request for the cannon was: "Cannon? We ain't got no cannon. We don't need no stinking cannon."
Sorry. Wrong dialogue.
History and the rebel's flag records the true response to be "Come and take it!" So Gonzales has a "Come and Take It" celebration, with a reenactment every year
The Spoetzl Brewery
This is perhaps the main draw for those who visit Shiner. As you may have gathered by their recent ad campaign, Shiner Beer is "Brewed with an attitude". You can tour the brewery (Monday thru Friday 11a.m. & 1:30p.m.) and find out for yourself what kind of attitude.
After a hard day of maintaining an attitude, many of the brewery employees repair to The Tenth Inning for "attitude adjustment". This local tavern is a mere 7/10ths of a mile from the brewery, which makes one wonder if there's an underground pipeline. Judging by the empty cases outside, Shiner outsells the other brands 4-1. "We drink all we can and we sell the rest".
The 1895 Opera House, now called The Gaslight Theater puts on about four performances per year.
An architectural jewel is the 1921 Saints Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church, a red brick Romanesque Revival style structure with painted murals and magnificent stained glass windows imported from Bavaria.
Leslie