Better German Beer in Texas or Spain?

I've written about bock beer (dark lager) the past few entries in my Beer Tasting 2022 project so I'll keep at it. For this round I picked up some Shiner Bock, a German style bock beer created by German immigrants in Texas in the 1800s. I was inspired to add that to my comparisons partly because it's an interesting smaller-production beer that you can find in a lot of places in the US, and partly because I was reminded of it when I was in Texas a few weeks ago.

My first comparison for Shiner can be described as, "Who makes the better German beer, Texas or Spain?"



For the first part of this round I put Shiner head to head— and bock to bock— with Estrella Galicia Reserva Especial 1906, a Spanish bock that blew away a classic German brew in round 10.

Like many of my beer tasting rounds, this one wound up not being exactly head to head, even if it was bock to bock. Shiner and Estrella are different subcategories of bock. Estrella is a helles bock or heller bock, a brew characterized by a slightly hoppier and less malty flavor. Shiner tasted more like a straight-up bock. Just as I preferred Estrella over a straight-up German bock in Round 10, I preferred it over Shiner here.

...Okay, so how about Shiner vs. a German bock next? I figured. I drank a Shiner head-to-head with Hofbräu Dunkel, the runner up in Round 10. Here, surprisingly, I found that Shiner is neither fish nor fowl. Compared to a hellerbock it tastes like a classic bock. Compared to a classic bock it tastes... IDK, just less than.

Ouch, two losses in one round for Shiner. What's it good for? Well, it does match well with some things. It goes well with grilled or roasted meats without overpowering them, like its stronger German cousins tend to do. It also goes well with chocolatey desserts. Part of my trip in Texas had me and a few Texan colleagues eating chocolate chip-pecan pie with bottles of Shiner based on me talking up my beer sophistication... and OMG it was phenomenal. Too bad I don't eat chocolate chip pecan pie on the regular; I have fewer reasons to keep a 6-pack of Shiner on hand.

First Year of Chase Sapphire Preferred

A little over a year ago I signed up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. As with every credit card I've opened over the past several years, I did it for the benefits. I look for credit cards to pay me to use them! Now that I'm at the 12 month anniversary on this one let's check the score.

80,000 Bonus Points

I signed up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP) with an offer for 80,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months. In terms of the range of offers available over time, 80k points is relatively high. Right now, for example, the sign-up offer is just 60k points. I think I've seen it as high as 100k for short periods. But never mind; 80k is a more than solid offer.

The 80k bonus was attractive because the points the card pays, Chase Ultimate Rewards points (URs), are a solid value. At a minimum, they're worth 1% as cashback. They're worth 1.25% if spent in Chase's travel portal. And when transfeered to Hyatt— just one of many travel partners available for URs— they've been worth from 1.5% up to 2%.

Along with the big signup bonus the card pays points on purchases. It pays 3 points per dollar on dining  and streaming, 2 points/dollar on travel (a broad category), and 1x on everything else. I spend a lot of money on dining and travel, so those multiplier categories work well for me.

The card charges an annual fee of $95. It was not waived the first year.

The Math

In the first 12 month of owning this card I earned 97,200 points. At the rate of 1.5 cents per point that's $1,458. 😳 As always with big scores such as this, though, that's before subtracting the costs. For this card the costs were an annual fee of $95 and an opportunity cost of $168. $168 is the amount of cash back I would have earned on a no-fee 2% cashback card. That nets out to a win of $1,195... an impressive score!

To Renew, or Not to Renew?

To renew, or not to renew? Ah, that is the question! As much as this card paid me handsomely for the first year it's unlikely to earn its keep in the second year. That's because with the big signup bonus in the rearview mirror all I've got are the 2x and 3x spending categories to try to outrun the no-fee, 2% cashback cards in my wallet. And then there's the $95 annual fee. I figure this card will be roughly break-even in year 2.

I still might keep it, though. Cards like this lock you in with their points system. If I cancel the card I lose all the points I haven't spent yet... and that's over 60,000 of them! I could downgrade to a different, no-fee Chase card. That would preserve the 1% cashback option on those points though it would lose me the valuable transfer capability that makes them worth 1.5-2x as much. Another alternative is transferring my points to my spouse and then cancelling the card. She has a premium Chase card that gives her all the same options. ...Though her card charges a way higher fee, so she might cancel hers in a few months, too. We need to figure out how to shuffle the points around to preserve their value before closing any of these cards.

Update: I closed the card— after transferring the points for a great (I hope) vacation!