Sunset is a project of friends and family in Venice, California to bring Germany's most iconic soft drink to the United States.
Known in Germany as Spezi, the orange cola from Munich is one of the most popular soda options in Germany and has a strong cult status among its millions of fans.
In the 1950s, bartenders in Bavaria had an idea to solve the cola shortage. By mixing cola with orange soda, they created a new drink popularly called Spezi - a slang term for buddy.
Originally a mix-it-yourself drink, the first bottled orange colas appeared on the German market in the 60s. In 1974, Paulaner decided to use its brewing expertise to develop Paulaner Spezi. This was the start of our orange soda company and by combining our brewery expertise with one of the most popular beverages, we knew we were creating something special.
Spezi is a true child of the psychedelic revolution taking place in Munich at the time, the then 290-year-old brewery's orange cola was smooth and mellow, with a high fruit content and low carbonation.
The typeface and five-color wave has been inspired by Otl Aicher's work for the '72 Munich Olympics. The label is said to be a hallucinogenic depiction of a sunset over the Olympiaberg.
True to its brewery heritage Paulaner Spezi has been bottled in an original beer bottle. This is still the case today.
We will never abandon our historic roots, and our orange cola company proudly brings Spezi to a wider audience under the Sunset name. Our flavors, philosophy, and design all remain the same, and we’re happy to spread the love of our soda to you.
It is still produced the same way it was in 1974 - from the recipe to the label - a true time capsule from the 1970s. We just had to change the name from Spezi to Sunset to finally bring it to the US.
