Oettinger Beer

Oettinger Brauerei is a brewery group in Germany. Oettinger has been Germany's best selling beer brand since 2004 (when it superseded Krombacher) with an annual output of 621 million litres in 2011.^[1]

Oettinger's headquarters are in Oettingen in Bayern but there are also breweries in Gotha, Mönchengladbach and Braunschweig.

Cheap beer

Oettinger sells large amounts of beer for the lowest possible price. Oettinger bought the brewery producing "5,0 Original" beer in Braunschweig, a competitor in the same market segment. Oettinger is rarely found on tap in pubs and bars – most of it is sold bottled in supermarkets.

It is also exported – in Australia it is directly imported by the large BWS "Beer, Wine and Spirits" chain of liquor outlets where it is sold in 330 ml and 640 ml bottles, as well as 500 ml cans.

Oettinger uses several ways to keep beer prices low:

• Oettinger does not advertise.^[2]
• Oettinger does not involve any intermediaries; brewery-owned trucks deliver directly to stores.
• The brewing process is highly automated and uses few employees to brew vast amounts of beer.

The low price has made this beer brand the most successful one in Germany with an output of 621 million litres in 2011.

History

The "Fürstliche Brauhaus zu Oettingen" (Prince's brewhouse at Oettingen) was bought in 1956 by the Kollmar family (Ingrid Kollmar 64.5%, Günther Kollmar 11.1% and Dirk Kollmar 24.4%) and renamed "Oettinger Brauerei GmbH". Günther Kollmar still manages the company.

All Oettinger Group beer is brewed in accordance to the »Reinheitsgebot«, the German purity law of 1516, one of the oldest and strictest food standards in the world maintained up to the present day.

See also

• German Breweries top ten
• List of brewing companies in Germany

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oettinger (beer).

1. ↑ Die beliebtesten deutschen Biermarken Handelsblatt Online, 23 July 2012
2. ↑ "Bier vom Billigheimer: Oettinger - Marktführer ohne Werbung". Der Spiegel. 7 August 2009. Retrieved 5 February 2010. , quote: "The term "cheap beer" is actually almost a disqualification. But it's only an attempt. Everything that is marketed well and market adjusted in Germany, is suddenly (called) cheap. Aldi is cheap, IKEA is cheap, the Bild Newspaper is cheap, Oettinger Beer is cheap. Nobody wants it - 'It's dishwater!' But everybody drinks it. (Our) success proves us right." and he adds with an allusion to advertisements from his competitors Beck's and Licher:

   "Every time when your TV program has become interesting to a degree, you see the ship or the commercial or some kingfisher. We have a low opinion of that."