A bottle of Shiner Bock at its spiritual home Chata Ortega's
So why am I going on about a beer many readers have never heard of? The simple answer is whilst most American movies seem to feature Budweiser or Miller one film walks a different path. Set in Texas in 1971 Fandango (1985) heavily features Shiner Bock. Having never heard of the beer at the time, (me living in England and the beer only being sold in Texas that’s not exactly surprising) whilst watching the film I often wondered if it actually existed or if it was made up for the film. Then the internet was invented and I looked it up. Since then the company has been bought out and they have expanded production and distribution with the beer available in 41 states*.
Then two years ago I spotted Shiner Bock in Death Proof, it featured in the Austin, Texas bar scenes. You can also see it in Tin Cup, Slacker and The Hangover. Anyone who likes beer and gets the chance I suggest you try it, it is a good beer and a million times better than the tasteless gas over substance beers (mentioning no names) that feature in most movies.
*In my time in America I only found it in Texas.
loving the drink-related posts Fandango, really different and interesting stuff.
i really should get round to seeing the movie that gave you your name, that trailer is great
Did you see my first post about it?
https://fandangogroovers.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/fandangogroovers/
I have another James Bond one drafted, especially for you!
hehe, great post, how did you get up on that rock? looks scary
not as scary as sitting through the 18 Bond movies that are crap though…
can i really not get Fandango on DVD?
How did I get on the rock? I ran down and leapt across just like Costner does in the movie……. Actually I crawled across on my hands and knees and then someone handed me the bottle.
[…] We didn’t recreate this stunt but we did drink some Shiner beer. […]
They weren’t drinking Bock, it was the “normal” Shiner beer which I guess they no longer sell (?).
I must be old, because it used to sell alongside Bock in equal quantities when I was at Texas (late 80’s). I don’t think Shiner Bock was yet available when the movie was set.
They do still sell the “normal Shiner beer”. It is renamed Shiner Blonde. The locals to Shiner drink it. The Shiner blonde in a keg cannot be beat. Most of the local poeple around Shiner who drink Shiner beer do not drink the bock. We grew up drinking the rgular Shine now called Shiner Blonde. The bock while always a colleg kids favorite has caught on pretty much everyehere, now and I do love it but My fav is the blonde.
[…] is a Texas legend. There are coffee table books about it, movie placements, and even mentions in Breaking Bad. But the reference that seems to occur most often is in lyrics, […]