Spaten Production / Availability Problems?

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by bonsainut, Oct 23, 2014.

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  1. steveh

    steveh Grand Pooh-Bah (4,174) Oct 8, 2003 Illinois
    Society Pooh-Bah

    As input to the OP; just found some Spaten Okto 12 packs bottled on July 30, 2014. Not many left of the few cases it looked like the retailer originally had. May have to stock up...
     
  2. terrapinfan88

    terrapinfan88 Initiate (0) Nov 15, 2009 Virginia

    My b got it switched around
     
  3. steveh

    steveh Grand Pooh-Bah (4,174) Oct 8, 2003 Illinois
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Wouldn't want you to put your faith in the wrong distro. Oh, wait... :wink:
     
    terrapinfan88 likes this.
  4. beeragent

    beeragent Pooh-Bah (1,850) Aug 16, 2005 Texas
    Pooh-Bah

    We've had a ton of Spaten in our area (San Antonio) this year, but two years ago there wasn't a drop available. Must have to do with El Niño!
     
  5. einhorn

    einhorn Savant (1,175) Nov 3, 2005 California

    On a similar note - any of you Paulaner and/or Hacker Pschorr fans? How has distribution looked as of recent for these beers? I tried to do a bit of research about their importer (Paulaner USA) and the website paulanerhpusa.com is not functioning. Any insight?
     
  6. steveh

    steveh Grand Pooh-Bah (4,174) Oct 8, 2003 Illinois
    Society Pooh-Bah

    There was a lot of both Amber Märzens from each brewery in northeast Illinois -- probably more so than the past few years.

    On the other hand, I didn't see any Paulaner Wies'n or the new, limited edition H-P Festbier.

    Sad thing is, outside of the Oktoberfest season I rarely see any beers from either brewery other than the ubiquitous H-P Weizen.
     
  7. mmmbirra

    mmmbirra Pundit (877) Apr 19, 2009 Italy

    A square is a rectangle, but a rectangle isn't a square. I remember this from my 5th grade math class.
     
  8. grantcty

    grantcty Savant (1,016) Feb 17, 2008 Minnesota
    Trader

    My perspective from the Twin Cities:

    There's been no shortage of H-P's "Limited Edition" beers at many places I shop.

    As for availability of the 'regular' H-P/Paulaner offerings: pretty much the same. They are available at a lot of places and on tap at many as well.

    I go to Wisconsin quite a bit and the availability of both has been really good at the places I go (Madison/LaCrosse/Eau Claire) as well.

    Edit: Regarding Spaten--At the few places I looked for it, it was available and fairly fresh all things considered.
     
    #68 grantcty, Oct 29, 2014
    Last edited: Oct 29, 2014
  9. steveh

    steveh Grand Pooh-Bah (4,174) Oct 8, 2003 Illinois
    Society Pooh-Bah

    It has to be the populace and what they purchase regularly. I'm sure the shelves around me are so overloaded with the latest trend beer that there's no room for decent, let alone great, imports. :astonished:

    This is the point where I would say I ought to move to the Twins... but as I check my calendar I see winter looming menacingly... :grinning:
     
  10. Domingo

    Domingo Grand Pooh-Bah (4,252) Apr 23, 2005 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah

    I'm a fan of some of their beers. They're not my faves, but they're solid and they're fresher than most. Paulaner/HP's US distributor is located in Littleton, which is just a few miles away from where I work. Not sure if I'm representative of the whole country, but I've seen roughly the same amount of Paulaner and slightly more H-P recently. After not seeing them for 4-5 years, we're now getting all of the the 1/2L swingtop singles from H-P. They aren't as fresh as I'd like them to be, but they're functional. 6-packs from both, especially the "Best of Munich" variety are available almost anywhere, although they're never fresher than 6-8 weeks old.
     
  11. bonsainut

    bonsainut Initiate (0) Oct 23, 2014 North Carolina

    We've got good distro on Paulaner right now. Have both the regular "Marzen" Oktoberfest (production 9/13 :slight_frown:) and the limited "Wiesn" Oktoberfest (production 6/14). We also have the Hacker Pschorr Oktoberfest (production 5/14). The Hacker Pschorr is a close second to Spaten in my book... and some days tastes better to me. Truth is we haven't ever gotten a lot of HP in the past, but if they continue to stock it while Spaten sputters, I'll switch to Hacker Pschorr in a heartbeat.

    It should be noted the old Paulaner Oktoberfest I bought from CostCo in September (when it was one year past production). They had it by the case for a good price. I didn't check production date until just now.
     
  12. jmdrpi

    jmdrpi Grand High Pooh-Bah (8,989) Dec 11, 2008 Pennsylvania
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    My local beer store in PA has a bunch of cases of both. I recently bought a case of Hacker Pschorr Oktoberfest. And they had a whole stack of Paulaner Salvator.
     
  13. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,145) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Year old beer ≠ good distribution.
     
  14. canuck_fan

    canuck_fan Initiate (0) Jul 4, 2014

    plenty in Wi
     
  15. DocHo11idaze

    DocHo11idaze Initiate (0) Aug 29, 2013 California

    Yeah his response was spot on. We were supposed to get another shipment mid October and kinda got left wondering where the damn boat was with ze spaten. I didn't know of the 12 packs being discontinued, bevmo in Costa Mesa use to always keep a good inventory of octoberfest year round when I oversaw that area
     
    #75 DocHo11idaze, Nov 4, 2014
    Last edited: Nov 4, 2014
  16. bonsainut

    bonsainut Initiate (0) Oct 23, 2014 North Carolina

    Apparently the 12 packs are NOT discontinued, but Straub has decided not to carry them (for whatever reason). The distributor up in the Bay area still has them, and BevMo in the Bay area still stocks the 12's.

    The Spaten 6's are now in store in Southern Cal (production date 7/2014). According to the BevMo manager I spoke to two days ago (asking about availability of the 12 packs), he has not been too happy with Straub. He recently got a survey from AB St. Louis asking for feedback about them and he gave them low marks.

    So the Spaten 6's come in by the case, and I carry a full case up to the register, and BevMo still has to charge me the 6-pack price (instead of their price for the 12s). The lady at the register had to tear open the case, pull out a 6 pack, and scan the UPC code. Only cost me an extra $2, but still... Thanks, Straub :slight_frown:
     
    #76 bonsainut, Nov 10, 2014
    Last edited: Nov 10, 2014
  17. steveh

    steveh Grand Pooh-Bah (4,174) Oct 8, 2003 Illinois
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Are we still talking the Oktoberfest, or the Spaten Premium Helles?

    Pretty late into the season for all that Okto to suddenly become available. "Hey, here's some leftovers -- we'll send it to those places where they like to keep it available year-round." :astonished:
     
  18. bonsainut

    bonsainut Initiate (0) Oct 23, 2014 North Carolina

    I'm still talking Oktoberfest. I picked up a case of the Spaten Okto as well as the Hacker Pschorr Okto.
     
  19. bonsainut

    bonsainut Initiate (0) Oct 23, 2014 North Carolina

    For what it's worth, I have found the secret to year-round availability of Spaten Oktoberfest...

    Special order it through my Total Wine store. They take special orders and filled my order for three cases in four days. Ordered it on Monday, was drinking it on Friday :slight_smile:
     
  20. Dandrewjohn

    Dandrewjohn Zealot (599) Apr 13, 2013 Texas

    1997 Spaten brewery combined with Löwenbräu AG.

    2003 Spaten-Löwenbräu-Gruppe sold to Interbrew.

    2004 Interbrew and Brazilian AmBev united to form InBev.

    2006 Spaten brewhouse Munich closed due to lack of workload, now the museum of the company.

    2008 InBev bought AB to become ABInBev.

    (Source Wikipedia.)

    Unfortunate for those who like Spaten and Franziskaner, and dislike the beast. Eliminating jobs and competition, creating and misleadingly marketing faux products, funneling more wealth into fewer hands, and eventually sacrificing quality for profits, these are good reasons to dislike them.
     
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