Drink of the Week: Paulaner Sunset

I haven’t been a regular cola drinker since my 20s. So when the smiley product rep in the grocery store stopped me mid-saunter to pitch Paulaner Sunset, the U.S. release of Munich’s beloved NA orange cola Spezi, I almost waved him off. “Everyone in Germany either has a beer or the Spezi in their hand,” he said. I was skeptical until that first sip.

This isn’t the typical American style of a cola. Sweetened with beet sugar, the Sunset layers vanilla and cinnamon notes with orange and lemon juices and a bright, crisp finish, making for a natural-tasting, fizzy summer bevvy.

Originally created in 1974 in Munich, the Paulaner Spezi has long been a favorite of Germans, as noted by that enthusiastic grocery store rep. But it wasn’t available in America until 2024 when father and son Matthias and Anton Memminger collaborated with Paulaner to bring it to the States, using the original recipe but renaming it Sunset. (Former associate editor Emma Mannheimer tasted it in 2020, when she managed to track down an imported can from Portland specialty store Providore.) But now the orange cola is popping up on shelves at Total Wine and independent retailers nationwide and can be ordered online. 12-pack/$29.99, paulaner-sunset.com