Bayernbiere Bought and Drunk (2020)

Wasn't the Poobahs who locked the thread, was the moderators. Some moderators are Poobahs, not all Poobahs are moderators.

 

I'm not quoting boddhitree directly because this is an open discussion I often put forth.

That said, I'm also a little worried now as some of the research I did earlier in the day is now failing me. I found a link to Spaten's new web site* this morning, but now the source and the direct link yield coding gobbeldygook and a blank page. Are the Spaten naysayer spies hacking me? Or them?

My original intent was to ask (again) why we can't find some solid info on the Spaten brewery. Wikipedia pages are always questionable and the Spaten Facebook page hasn't had a new post since 2012. Top that with the lost link I found this morning and things seem really weird.

However, here's a link to a report on touring the Spaten Brewery (with some difficulties) in 2016. Maybe not the best info to be found, but it definitely has great pictures of the brewery at the original Marsstraße 46-48, 80335 München address I once attempted to crash many years ago.

*Hey, I got thru! Funny thing is, the site auto-translates (sort of) to English on my phone, but I can't find a translation when visiting on my desktop. Please note, AB-InBev have a hand in this site.

So, the Spaten mystery is still just that, but it sure looks like the brewery hasn't moved or left Munich. Is it just open for tours? Dunno, but taking a tour of empty or non-functioning tour kettles seems lame. Wish we could get a Spaten rep to sign on to BA.

 

If I were a betting man, I'd bet that the tours are of the non-functioning (or at least partially non-functioning) kettles and other parts of the Spaten brewery. It wouldn't surprise me if packaging and a few other tasks are still performed in the Spaten buildings.

Given that the Loewenbraeu brewery is practically next door, it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to keep both running if their capacity demands are met at the Loewenbraeu facility.

Edit: It also wouldn't surprise me if some of the tour was at the Loewenbraeu facility as well.

 

If you read that link I posted you'll see the tour is 3 HOURS LONG! Who knows where they take you? ;-)

 

I don't know much German, but would have no problem being there for 3 hours--especially if it meant that I got enjoy unlimited sampling at the end, along with some food.

I do find it interesting that the tour is only German. It seems as though Spaten is now a stronger export brand and it seems like they're really limiting themselves by having it in only German. But maybe they want it that way?

I was lucky enough to take a tour of the Paulaner/H-P facility at the Nockherberg location before they moved out to Langwied. It was in English and German. I see that HB also offers tours in English (and Italian) as well.

 

This amazes me. I never had trouble finding Spaten in HD, although as I think about it maybe I just knew which local Getränkemarkt to hit. But it was definitely there.

Just anecdotal but I stayed in Munich in 2014, near the Spaten Brewery and walked nearby on my way from the hotel to the Augustiner Keller and it sure seemed open, not that I gave it a close inspection.

 

As per an article from 2017 ABInbev is using the Spaten brewery to package Löwenbräu beers (whilst brewing and aging it at the Löwenbräu brewery). The article discusses plans for abandoning the Löwenbräu brewery completely and moving all production over to the Spaten brewery. So it seems the Spaten brewery is already a benefactor of consolidation between the two breweries, so it seems unlikely that that brewery will be closed.

 

Okay, I'm taking the bait -- where'd you stay? One of my go-to Munich hotels was on Arnulf Str. just down the street from Augustiner Keller. We would often stop at a small restaurant on the way -- place had Spaten products on tap and I always joked that they probably had a direct pipeline from the brewery a block away.

 

When I was in Munich in 1984, Spaten was everywhere. When I was there in 2017, I had a hard time finding it. The only place I found it was in a little pub down the street from our hotel.

 

According to some high level research I did yesterday, you can still find Spaten Biergartens around Munich. Hirschau in the Englischer Garten is still one of them.

 

Lots of discussion about the decline in popularity of Spaten in Germany. Does anybody have annual sales figures for Spaten in Germany? Is there an explanation for why German beer drinkers no longer favor drinking Spaten beer?

Cheers!

@einhorn

 

There's a Spaten pub/restaurant in Munich I visited in 2018 - Spatenhaus an der Oper.

Lots of Spaten on draft in the UK now, too.

 

I couldn't remember as of my posting but it appears to have been Hotel Vi Vadi. I don't remember much about it but that was 6 years ago at this point.

 

I stayed at the Hotel Amba (am Bahnhof) just about parallel with the Vi Vadi, but right across from the Hauptbahnhof.

Nothing fancy, but great location.

 

@JackHorzempa I only have access to numbers up to 2017 and breweries over 1 million HL, and Spaten is not on the list. If I were to make a guess as to why, I'd say

1) AB-Inbev's number 1 horse in hefeweizen category is Franziskaner
2) Spaten has always been pretty local to MUC and surrounding area with very little penetration outside if Bayern and/or Bayen Württemberg, so the recognition factor is also low compared to the other MUC breweries (for German consumers)
3) AB-Inbev have suffered over the years with rotating management
4) Spaten is well known here in the States in regards to previous strong distribution but that has suffered tremendously when Ab-Inbev took control of the brand for Becks and Franziskaner, Spaten was always the red-headed stepchild and likely never a "focus brand".
5) Loss of US consumption (export) to craft beer

I'm sure there are other factors, maybe someone else has insight or opinion here.

 

I was very fond of Spaten Dunkel but distribution to USA stopped years ago and I guess it fell out of the AB-Inbev favor.

 

Dunkel, as I and others have discussed many times, is a niche style that has had a hard time gaining popularity in the US. I think it’s even fading away in Germany, it’s sort of an old man’s beer there from what I’ve gathered.

The major Bavarian breweries that do import Dunkel in containers are Hofbräu München and Ayinger. I’ve had Hacker-Pschorr’s on draft, but you really have to look for it at specific German bars and restaurants.

 

One of our liquor stores manages to score us some Weltenburger Kloster Dunkel and their Kloster Anno 1050, a Märzen. There are assorted other dunkels in singles. Florida seems to have a much larger distribution. And there also some Schwarzbiers.