German Produkts

German beer, sausage, potato salad and kolaches are among the popular traditional foods found in Texas today.

The Kreische Brewery produced hundreds of barrels of beer each year in the late 1800s. It remains today as a State Historical Park near La Grange.

Kosmos Spoetzl established a brewery in Shiner to meet the demands of hard-working Germans and Czechs, who longed for the old-world taste from their Eastern European homelands. The Spoetzl Brewery, it is said, remained open through the Prohibition years, by producing ice! Many Texans today thirst for the rich brew on hot afternoons.

Central and South Texas remains the proving ground for Slavic foods where third- and fourth-generation Texans vie for the honor of tastiest pastries at kolache cookoffs and polka festivals. Spicy sausage and bowls of steaming chili compete at events like the annual Czhilispiel in Flatonia. And, potato salads made with German mustards and secret ingredients can stir up a rivalry at a family picnic.

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