American Made Marzens

That was my reaction as well, back in the late 1980s when premium meant European imports for the most part.

 

Did you see that sort of bottle during a visit to Germany?

The Spaten Oktoberfestbier has the look of a German (Pfand) returnable bottle (see photo below). I doubt that specific bottle would have made its way to the US.

Cheers!

 

Yeah, that's a very old bottle. Note that it says "Oktoberfest" on the label too, evidence that it's not an import.

Many years ago Spaten imported those .5 liter bottles, but they were filled with the Ur-Marzen (the 12 ounce bottles had the same label) and had that nomenclature on the label.

The new Spaten .5 labels look retro -- it's the bottle you linked to above.

 

When they came to the US I believe they were brown -- I know, why? HB did the same thing years ago; green bottles for their six-packs, brown for the .5 liters.

 

Dug this up... 2009 or 2010.

 

Marketing.

Heineken established the cachet of green bottles in the American market years ago. It is slowly eroding.

 

I know, it's the same old story -- but the real question is why one format, but not the other?

Seems Heineken has had larger format bottles (maybe still do?), but they were still green for their "consistency."

I think the answer to Spaten and HB is more bottle production cost (and probably sales) than straight marketing.

And... why are Franziskaner Bottles, from the same brewery as Spaten, brown?

Guess they don't want that beer to have the same status.

 

Nerd alert: The bottle of Spaten Oktoberfestbier looks to me like an export bottle similar to the two bottles to the right in the picture below. The two bottles to the left are standard NRW bottles, taller and heavier than those on the right (more suitable for returnable bottles). The way to tell them apart in pictures is by the top, the left ones have a more bulbous rounded top while the right ones have a straighter side and a sharper edge.

Compare the Löwenbräu bottle above with the bottle from Löwenbräu's website:

And finally the aforementioned Spaten bottle.

 

The bottle definitely looks like what we've seen as Spaten import bottles here in the past, but we've never seen the "Oktoberfestbier" label here. Maybe elsewhere in Europe -- or even Canada?

BTW -- that Lowenbrau single bottle image looks a little out of proportion based on what I see on the label -- a little squashed horizontally (maybe it's my phone view).

 

Patrik, can you please clarify what you mean by "export bottle" in your post?

I have never seen German brewed beer in bottles like those you pictured in any US beer retailer. The imported bottled German beers that I have purchased are typically in 12 ounce or 11.3 ounce bottles with the one exception being Ayinger which come in a more stout bottle:



Cheers!

 

Yes. I have seen larger bottles that are as you say "pretty stout". I have not seen bottles like those pictured for Spaten Oktoberfestbier.

I personally have not purchased any of the German beers in big bottles for a long time (several) years since they are all too often old with the double whammy of being too expensive.

Cheers!

 

Good to know. I have not seen non-stout bottles at any of my local beer retailers.

Cheers!

 

I still see HB 500ml bottles and different Paulaner and H-P bottles here and there -- all a little taller and thinner than Ayinger's 500ml.

 

I've got both the tall and short 0.5 L bottles on the shelf in the basement, with US labels, from German brewers. The tall ones have to be old.

The short 0.5 L are used by Ayinger and Augustiner in the Munich area. The short bottles are also used by some of the Bamberg breweries.

 

Yeah, maybe they were more popular in the past?

Cheers!

 

You see the tall ones all over, more than the short ones.

 

Not me.

Cheers!