Chicagoist's Beer of the Week: Shiner's Ruby Redbird

By Karl Klockars in Food on Jun 3, 2011 6:40PM

Here's how this week's BotW post was all set to play out: After last week's super-beer-dork selection and general Beer Week frenzy, I was all set to enjoy the recent summer heat with a mid-level macro-ish beer. It's one that I really dig but probably no one else likes - Leinie's Summer Shandy in cans. Not bottles. Cans. (I've discussed this before, but it merits at least one mention every year.)

Then I went searching for some images and did a little hunting through BeerMenus and stumbled onto Puerto Rico Food & Liquor, which for a bodega has a holy-shit-that's-amazing beer selection. All of which led me to Shiner's Ruby Redbird, a grapefruit/ginger brew that calls itself "The Perfect Summer Beer." I'm not quite ready to go that far, but I am glad I accidentally fell into a six-pack of it.

Pouring reddish-orange with a light pinkish hue to the head, the Ruby Redbird is airy and unchallenging in a lazy, lawnchair-beer sorta way. Tasting of more ginger than grapefruit, it's crisp at the front and just a little syrupy at the backend. Don't take your time with this one, because the flavors have a tendency to wisp away after a while. Drink this one out of the bottle, preferably from the back of a riding lawnmower. Grab it at the aforementioned Puerto Rico or on draft at the Grafton. Take all of this praise with a grain of salt - I was also the only one who liked Shiner's peach cobbler of a Xmas beer this year.

Sorry, Shandy. Maybe next time. For now, Shiner's Ruby Redbird is Chicagoist's Beer of the Week.