Changes

The ownership of the brewery changed hands many times until 1807 when the royal Hofbräu brewmaster, Gabriel Sedlmayr, took over what the brewery which had by then changed name to Spatenbräu. At the time it was then Munich's smallest brewery named Spatenbräu. The still today used logo with a spade symbolising a malt shovel bears his Gabriel Sedlmayr's initials. Sedlmayr's sons continued to run the business and in 1867 Spaten became the largest brewery in Munich, as then measured by malt use.

In 1872, Spaten made history by introducing a light-amber coloured Vienna-style beer at Munich's Oktoberfest, named Märzenbier. The [[Märzenbier]] was first sold in the Schottenhamel Festzelt as other when the normal beer supplies had ran out of supply and so it became an instant success. The Märzenbier, became known as [[Oktoberfestbier]] and changed to the pale golden and slightly stronger Helles (lager) which is still sold during the Oktoberfest. The Märzenbier was originally permitted to be brewed only between St. Michael's Day (29th September) and St. Georg's Day (23rd April) and had to be stored in ice cellars until the Oktoberfest. Märzenbier, also known as [[Oktoberfestbier]], is a slightly stronger Helles (lager).