Spoetzl Brewery to open new cocktail bar, lounge

  • Pictured are city council members, chamber members, Director of Brewery and Distillery Operations Tom Fiorenzi and President and CEO John Brozovich, and interested parties at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Lounge and Bar at Spoetzl Brewery.
    Pictured are city council members, chamber members, Director of Brewery and Distillery Operations Tom Fiorenzi and President and CEO John Brozovich, and interested parties at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Lounge and Bar at Spoetzl Brewery.
  • Director of Brewery and Distillery Operations Tom Fiorenzi and President and CEO John Brozovich speak to city officials about the new lounge and bar coming to Spoetzl Brewery.
    Director of Brewery and Distillery Operations Tom Fiorenzi and President and CEO John Brozovich speak to city officials about the new lounge and bar coming to Spoetzl Brewery.

    Shiner will soon have a brand-new cocktail bar and lounge at the Spoetzl Brewery. A groundbreaking ceremony was hosted last Friday, Sept. 6 and members from both the Shiner City Council and the Shiner Chamber of Commerce came out to hear the news. 
    “The lounge is going to contain a main bar area for tasting, so you’ll be able to come in when the lounge is open and taste all of our brand new spirits,” Director of Brewery and Distillery Operations Tom Fiorenzi said.
    “It’ll be very similar to a bar setup, but it’ll only be serving our spirits because legally by Texas law, we can only serve our spirits or everything we make here. We started this process about five years ago when we talked about making spirits in general. 
    We’ve seen much excitement about these spirits and how much we sold. We decided to take that step and enhance the whole experience about spirits here at the Spoetzl Brewery.”
    There will be an indoor fireplace in the lounge which is sure to keep folks warm during the winter season and there will be plenty of air conditioning through the summer. The lounge is about an 8,500 square foot building and will be able to seat many people, according to Fiorenzi.
    “We will have an event area with it so we can actually seat approximately 200 people, and we’ll have a kitchen that will supply those 200 people with food,” Fiorenzi said.
    The brewery will be taking their Shiner spirits and make food out of that.
    “The food will be everything that will complement our spirits,” Fiorenzi said. “We feel like we have everything covered with K. Spoetzl Barbecue, so we really want to branch out and get into other types of cuisines. We have a fryer and a pizza oven.”
    Another unique feature about the structure is that there will be a “spirits experience area.” This means that when folks come in, they’ll have an opportunity to do barrel selections.
    “We’ll also have a new landing point for our tour experience,” Spoetzl Brewery President and CEO John Brozovich said. “It’ll have an educational bar and an adjacent retail area.”
    Pricing will be affordable and cocktails will be in line with the market, according to Fiorenzi.
    “We have events where we’re selling spirits every 45 seconds and the response has been fantastic,” Fiorenzi said. “We’ve been really enjoying watching everyone learn about our spirits. Last April, we did launch as a test market to see what it was like to take our bottled packaged spirits outside of Shiner. We launched it in the Dallas and Fort Worth area, and we’ve seen success there. We aim to take our packaged spirits all over Texas in 2025.”
    The brewery is targeting a summer 2025 opening for this new lounge and bar. Fiorenzi aims for the lounge to be open at least seven days a week.