When it comes to lemonade, Germany has been looking towards the USA with awe for what feels like forever. The Coca-Cola Company established itself there in 1892 and became so successful that its drink was also bottled in Germany from 1929 onwards in the “Essener Vertriebsgesellschaft für Naturtrine”. “Natural drinks” sounds funny, this fizzy drink goes back to an inventor in the USA who mixed together a syrup for headaches. Inadvertently, it became a global soft drink leader.
The fact that Coca-Cola was at times denigrated in Germany as an “occupier’s soda” is only briefly mentioned – it didn’t hurt its success. The advertising for the caffeinated lemonade was so successful that we now have to keep reminding ourselves that December 6th is not the feast day of the Coca-Cola advertising character “Santa Claus”, but of Saint Nicholas. In the long term, Christian marketing is almost inferior to that of US corporations. But this is another story.
Attentive speciologists, beverage freaks and connoisseurs of the Munich beverage scene know these historical dates – and note November 2023 as a turning point, literally: Because now Americans are turning their attention to Munich, the place of origin of a cola-orange mixed drink that… the opposite triumphal march has begun: “Paulaner Sunset”.
If you haven’t seen it at the drinks market around the corner, be comforted, you’ve already known the sweet, fruity cult drink for a long time. It has the same retro label in orange-red-purple, only the word “Spezi” has been replaced by “Sunset”. is. “Paulaner Sunset”, the brewery now sells it under this label in the USA. Sales start in California, but brewing takes place in Munich.
For the “Cola with orange flavored soda”, the Munich brewery promises Americans: “With a sunset in your hand you will always have sunshine in your heart.” Have sunshine in your heart. Munich’s Spezi fans are excited to see whether this will catch on there. There’s a huge flaw in the matter: Because of an ancient agreement on the “Spezi” naming rights with the Augsburg Riegele brewery, Paulaner apparently has to bend for the USA when it comes to the brand name.
The “Raider” chocolate bar has long been called “Twix”, but Saint Nicholas is not a Coca-Cola advertising clown – and because a big “Sunset” debate immediately broke out online among local, loyal speciologists, Paulaner assures Well, at least in this country the Spezi remains a “Spezi”. Independent of the position of the sun.