Shiner Ruby Redbird Review: Do We Recommend This Fruit-style Lager?

Shiner Ruby Redbird is a fruit-style lager made of grapefruits with a touch of ginger. Its unique composition makes most beer drinkers curious about how it tastes.

If you’re one of the eager ones, an honest review will go a long way in helping you decide if it is worth trying. We’ve taken the time to critically review this beer and come up with the most updated and comprehensive breakdown of this brew.

Shiner Ruby Redbird Stats

Country	United States (Texas)
Brand	Spoetzl Brewery
Style	Fruit and Field
Taste	The grapefruit flavor makes for a fruity sweetness with a faint maltiness as well as a spiciness that is a result of ginger. There’s a very mild bitterness that lingers at the end.
Body	Light-bodied with high carbonation. It also has an effervescent orange, golden or amber color that is appealing. It has a crisp, fizzy, and dry finish.
ABV	4.01 percent
Flavor and Aroma	The flavor together with the aroma of this beer, are predominantly citrus, with strong hints of red ruby grapefruits with a hint of malty character and ginger that adds to its delicate beer profile.
Serving Temperature	43 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit

Tasting Notes

Shiner Ruby Redbird Review

Described as containing grapefruit and ginger and having a lip-smacking finish, it is easy to get excited about tasting this beer. Before you do so, here is a detailed review compiled by our beer experts based on the following categories:

– Appearance

When poured into a glass, this fruit-style lager has a light golden or copper color with an interesting and stunning ruby highlight. The beer is very effervescent, and a thin white foamy head immediately appears when it’s poured. This foamy head would recede quickly and leave a very minimal lacing if it can be regarded as one.

While the color of this lager looks enticing, its thin foamy head that recedes fast is quite disappointing because the beer has high carbonation. With such a level of carbonation that has many fine bubbles running through the glass, it is quite sad that the foam head disappears almost as soon as it appears.

– Aroma

It is made from Texas red ruby grapefruits; hence, the most predominant scent you’ll catch is grapefruits. This grapefruit note is immediately followed by ginger, another assertive scent. From the aroma of this beer, it is easy to be reminded of ginger ale because the scent is almost the same.

Another scent you’d get from this fruit-style lager is malt, although it is subdued. There are also hints of other toasted grains that all make for a great scent. Aside from these notes, there is not much going on for this beer. However, its overall aroma is perhaps the best thing about it because it makes you eager to take a sip.

– Mouthfeel

This fruit-style lager is a light-bodied beer with high carbonation that typically should lend the beer some character. However, the mouthfeel of this lager is thin, smooth, and almost watery. Thankfully, it is somewhat crisp and fizzy; otherwise, it would have been one very flat beer. It consists mainly of a mild maltiness and a slightly bitter bite at the end of every gulp.

There’s a noticeable sourness that is most likely from the grapefruits. The ginger also gives the beer a bit of spiciness. While the mouthfeel of this fruit-style lager isn’t anything spectacular, we like that it goes down quickly and is thirst-quenching.

– Flavor

The flavor of this lager is similar to its aroma, with nothing much going on for it. It has a citrus flavor that comprises mainly grapefruit and other light citrus fruits. There’s also a touch of ginger flavor that gives the beer a pleasant spiciness, similar to what you would get with ginger ale.

Overall, the flavors are not assertive and are almost barely there. The good part is that it doesn’t come off in an off-putting manner, as the flavor profile is somewhat very delicate. Fans of bold, flavored beers may not enjoy this brew; however, note that if you like clean and straightforward beers, you might enjoy a cold can or bottle of this beer.

– Food Pairings

Fruit-style beers usually go best with meals that have simple and almost similar flavors. The same can be said for this lager, as it is best paired with meals that are not too flavorful or overly spicy. You can pair it with salad, cheese, pizza, and chicken wings, don’t forget that the flavor of this beer is very bold, so it will give a richness of tastes when you sip and eat.

For more variety, you can decide to have this lager beer with fruity desserts, cakes, pork sandwiches, or any type of sandwich, burger, or smoky BBQ. Nonetheless, if you are keen enough and interested at the same time to try it with spicy meals, an excellent Chinese takeout would be the perfect accompaniment for this beer.

Ingredients

The beer is made from real Texas red ruby grapefruits and an assortment of other citrus notes. It also features a touch of ginger, as well as pure two-row and Munich malts. This beer also includes specialty hops like Citra, Willamette, and Mt. Hood. Aside from these, it contains regular beer additions of water and yeast.

Nutrition Facts

This fruit-style lager is a straightforward beer, which is evident in its calorie count. It has 95 calories, three grams of carbs, and one gram of sugar. The beer also contains zero grams of protein, zero grams of fat, an IBU of 13, and an alcohol content of 4.01 percent.

History

Spoetzl, the producing brewery, has been producing Shiner beer since 1909 in Shiner, Texas. It was first introduced to the beer market in 2011. It is a fruit-style lager produced by the reputable Spoetzl brewery, producers of Shiner Bock and Shiner Weisse ‘N’ Easy beers.

Furthermore, this beer expertly combines a blend of grapefruit, ginger, and malts to create a clean, smooth, refreshing taste. You can easily buy it at any liquor store, bar, pub, or online beer retail site across the country.

Conclusion

This fruit-style lager does fairly well for a lager, considering its unique mix of ingredients. It is pretty good beer. It is light, with low alcohol content and a smooth, clean taste that is icitrus-flavored primarily. Here’s a recap of points discussed in this review:

• Shiner Ruby Redbird is a fruit-style lager with 4.01 percent ABV produced by Spoetzl Brewing Company in Texas.
• Its taste, flavor, and aroma are similar and comprise mostly grapefruits, ginger, and malt, all delicately blended together.
• The beer is light-bodied with active carbonation that makes it fizzy yet thin and crisp mouthfeel. It starts with a malty and fruity sweetness and finishes with a dry, mildly bitter bite.
• You can pair this beer with fruity desserts, salad, smoky BBQ, Chinese takeout, burgers, pizza, and even cheese, it will open up all the flavors.

Unfortunately, this lager doesn’t fall into our list of recommended beers because the taste is almost too thin and basic. However, if you enjoy beers with extremely subtle flavors, you might enjoy this, especially on warm summer days.