I was bound and determined; I would buy no more beer in 2020. I surely had enough, a few trips to Total Wine for holiday brews, various purchases from Craftshack.com, and six crowlers in the fridge from Stout’s here in Canton. Almost all the classic holiday favorites were on hand, a few I ha dnot had in years, and some new ones, to boot. Yes, I had enough beer and my larder was full.

That didn’t last long. A trip to Target early one mid-December morn had me strolling right past a display of Shiner Candied Pecan, and there was no way I was passing up on this one. A six-pack went straight into my cart, and I popped a bottle a few nights later while putting up Christmas lights in my yard.

There is no information about this beer on the Shiner website. It has been released in the past as “Shiner Candied Pecan Porter”, though I’m not so sure I would classify it as a porter; it seems more an American brown ale as base beer by color and flavor to me. On the label, though, they do call it a porter:

When it’s finally sweater weather, welcome it with this candied pecan ale in hand. Brewed with roasted praline pecans, this robust porter provides subtle notes of roasted pecan, vanilla, caramel, and brown sugar. Crafted to be the perfect companion to those ”cold” Texas winters.

There is more on the bottom of the six-pack carrier:

This beer is brewed with roasted pecans from Millican pecan Company in San Saba, Texas-also known as the Pecan capital of the world. Millican is a fifth-generation family-owned company founded in 1888. Their innovation and hard work in pecan farming created their famous “Mother Pecan Tree”, whose grafts have produced many great pecan varieties.

Shiner Candied Pecan has an alcohol content of 6% by volume and I paid $8.54 for a six-pack at Target. That’s right. $8.54.

Shiner Candied Pecan pours to a dark mahogany color with a creamy tan head and a nose is full of toasted pecan aroma. Taking a sip you get a firm bodied beer with the same wonderful pecan notes, with brown sugar (the glaze?), buttery notes, molasses, caramel, rich pecan pie, a gentle but not overbearing sweetness and a surprisingly balanced finish.

This beer delivers the nutty pecan flavors better than anything I have tried before, and at $8.54 a six-pack I would give this five stars all day today and half the night tonight. It’s an incredible value and delivers the theme of pecans perfectly.

If you see it, buy it.

And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.

*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.

(B)=Bottled

(D)=Draft

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