Abstrudeln, Reparaturseidl and Almdudler - experience Vienna

The strudel is probably the best-known pastry of the Austrian cuisine, but the well-known cake with the delicious different fillings has nothing to do with “Abstrudeln”at this point of discussion.

Rather, "abstrudeln" is the right verb when you really struggle hard for something or someone in Vienna. Language subtleties?

Once again, we were traveling in Vienna and, as we have mentioned a few times before, struggled with a few words that could not be easily assigned. The “abstrudeln” was also part of it. We were surprised again, when during the local brunch the order four "Reparaturseidl" was given, which turned out to be simple beers in the early morning. When somebody likes it, why not? Just the wording already needed an explanation. But easily explained.

Regional identities and dialectical differences

Unfortunately, according to our companions, the vocabulary is so typical or specific at Vienna what has been changing more and more, that it is often feared that the "genuine" Viennese will be largely assimilated in the course of the coming decades in a standardized German vernacular. However, this phenomenon is also found in other variants of the German, actually also by the globalization in all countries of our earth. The standardization of scriptural and official language, as promoted by Joseph von Sonnenfels, initially deliberately supplanted the dialectical differences, before an awareness of regional identities and peculiarities developed again in the 19th century.

For us the alternative to beer - the Almdudler

It was too early for a beer, better a Reparaturseidl (what we learned so far), so we asked for a lemonade, whereupon we were offered an Almdudler. Almdudler used to be a mixture of wine and "Kracherl" (a kind of lemonade). The first produced bottle of Almdudler is said to have been given to his wife Ingrid Klein (1935-2017) on the day of her 1957 wedding by inventor Erwin Klein (1924-1983). This is considered the day of the founding of a company in which his wife was also half involved and which still exists today.

In October 1957, Erwin Klein started producing herbal soda in Weissgasse 3 in Vienna's 17th district. He worked on the recipe of the evolving Almdudler for three years. The name Almdudler is derived, according to the company, from the phrase "on the Alm Dudeln" (the Dudler is the Viennese form of yodeling) from.

Licensor for the soft drink Almdudler

Subsequently, Klein gave 350 other bottlers the right to produce Almdudler in exchange for royalties, and also outsourced sales via distribution and distribution to distributors, focusing on marketing and advertising. Until 1973, its own production of soda water and sodas was carried out until 1973, later the company just acts as a licensor. In addition to bottlers in Austria, there are also bottlers in Germany, Belgium and Switzerland.

After the sudden death of Erwin Klein in 1983, his son Thomas Klein took over the management of the company. In 2004, Klein retired from the management and has since then just been chairman of the supervisory board. Since 2016, the Austrian family-owned company Pfanner and the mineral water company Franken Brunnen have been distribution partners in Germany, what in Switzerland is Stardrinks AG, a subsidiary of Heineken Switzerland AG.

"Almdudler" is a lemonade made of water, sugar and herbal essences. According to the manufacturer, around 80 million liters of "Almdudler" are bottled annually, which has placed the beverage in Austria on the soda market in second place after Coca Cola.

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