Thinking about home and Shiner Bock Stew

I’ve always heard that you can tell that a girl’s from Texas if she can drink beer. Most people equate Lone Star Beer with The Lone Star State, but a beer that I’m finding more often outside of Texas is Shiner Bock beer. In college Shiner was elite keg party beer. Usually the Shiner keg was tucked away and you had to be invited to have some. Now that I’m gainfully employed; I can get Shiner whenever I want.

Shiner, TX is a small town about an hour to 90 minutes east of Austin. The population of the town is about 2,500 which is  about the same size of the town I grew up in. Do you know that kind of place? There was a time in high school that my friends and I sat at the lunch table and named everybody in the room (first and last name). That’s a small town!

This St. Patrick’s Day I wanted to make Irish Stew, but as I was mixing and simmering in the kitchen I started to deviate from the recipe and ended up with what I’m calling, Shiner Bock Stew.

From the Shiner website, they describe their beer as:

Shiner Bock is a distinctive, rich, full-flavored, deep amber-colored beer. Its handcrafted brewing process creates an inviting smooth taste without the excessive bitterness that characterizes many micro, specialty and imported beers.

Shiner Bock Stew

32 oz Beef broth
2 Bottles Shiner Bock Beer
1 T garlic
1 T dry Thyme
2 T tomato paste
2 lbs stew beef
1/4 c oil
3 lbs yellow potatoes (chopped about 1/2 inch slices)
1 lg yellow onion (diced)
2 c chopped carrots (chopped)

For the broth
Brown the beef in soup pot with oil. Add beef broth, beer, garlic, thyme and tomato paste in large soup pot.

For the other ingredients
Brown potatoes, onion and carrots in large skillet for about 10 minutes. Add veggies to beef broth.

To finish
Allow to cook for 40 minutes. Tastes better the next day.