Shiner, Texas

My mother and I took a mini-roadtrip to the brewery in Shiner on Tuesday.

We took this journey because I have recently been struck with a kind of wanderlust to explore my homestate. This always happens when I live somewhere that is not in Texas; I feel suddenly so much pride in being from Texas and want to explore the ins and outs of the state, to experience what makes Texas Texas and to develop as a native Texan.

I like Shiner beer; when I'm in Austin I drink quite a bit of Shiner Blonde and Shiner Hefe. In Iowa City they sell all the seasonal Shiner varieties, as well as the original Shiner Bock, but not these my two favorites. At the brewery after the brief tour, visitors are given four wooden nickels to exchange for small paper cups of different beers. These were some generous cups, let me tell you. I only drank three; my mom only had two. They were out of the only flavour I hadn't ever tried (the summer seasonal grapefruit beer?) that I wanted to try (was not interested in the very dark 'black lager' or the ultra-hoppy IPA), so I enjoyed my free Blonde and Hefe, made a stamped penny for my good friend Miriam back in Iowa City, and off we went back to Austin.

On the way to Shiner, we took a detour to Mt. Palmetto State Park in Gonzales County. My mom enjoys nature and camping, and she was curious about the area. I am more of a townie (give me an outdoor cafe any day), but in the spirit of engaging in being a Texan, I embraced the beautiful view of green (not drought-dead!) trees and rock. 

It's becoming more important to me to figure myself out, and part of that means investigating where I come from. I'm glad to have spent this extra time just exploring different parts of Texas (as much as I covet my status as an Austinite specifically).