How to Find Opa’s at Your Grocery Store

You could shop your own grocery store blindfolded, and our regulars practically do. Milk in the back left corner, coffee halfway down six, and the sausage exactly where it’s been since the first time you found it. But a store you don’t know (the one near the rental house, the one two towns over on the drive home) turns the same errand into a small scavenger hunt. You know Opa’s is somewhere in the building. The question is where.

This is the map. Where to check before you drive, which case to stand in front of when you get there, what the package looks like, which flavors to expect, and what to do when the one you want isn’t in that day’s mix.

Check Before You Drive: The Store Locator

The fastest version of the hunt is the one that happens before you leave the house. The store locator maps Opa’s at leading grocery stores across Texas, the South and Southwest, and it’s the single most reliable way to find the shelf nearest you — whether that’s in your neighborhood, in a new town, or somewhere along the highway between the two. Selection shifts from store to store, so thirty seconds on the locator beats a lap around an unfamiliar building. If you’re outside Texas, the locator is also the fastest way to find out whether your area is covered yet.

Head for the Refrigerated Case

Once you’re inside, skip the center aisles. Opa’s smoked sausage lives in the refrigerated meat or deli case, usually near the bacon, not the freezer, and not a dry shelf. Every link is fully cooked in the smokehouse and kept cold from there to your kitchen, where the only job left is to warm it through and put some color on it, over indirect heat on a medium grill or in a skillet. So when you’re scanning the store, follow the cold: where the bacon and the refrigerated meats are, you’re standing in the right neighborhood.

What the Package Looks Like

The label does the finding for you, and now that you know what’s on it, you’ll never miss it. Every package wears the same square badge: a cream medallion set on the flavor’s own color field, framed in a thin gold line. “Since 1947” arches across the top, the Opa’s name runs beneath it in big blackletter script, and Opa himself stands at the left edge — feathered hat, lederhosen, a string of links in one hand and a thumbs-up in the other. The flavor is spelled out plainly in the medallion’s lower half, with “Fredericksburg, TX 78624” curving underneath. Even the corners work for you: “Fully Cooked” printed at the top left, “Keep Refrigerated” at the top right. The two facts that matter most, right on the front.

Then there’s the color system, and once you know it, your eye does the work from three carts away. Each flavor wears its own label: yellow for Country Blend, red for Beef, bright green for Jalapeño, black for Jalapeño Cheddar, dark green for Hatch Green Chile, turquoise for Bratwurst, and orange for Chicken Poblano Monterey Jack. Habanero runs red as well, set apart by a festive yellow-and-teal patterned ring around its medallion — when you’re standing between the two reds, the ring settles it before you’ve even read the name. (The navy label belongs to Knackwurst, which you’ll only meet at the deli or online.)

One more thing the package tells you: the film is clear enough to show there’s real texture inside, not the smooth, uniform look of a pressed link. The full coarse-grind reveal waits for your cutting board, but even through the casing, you can see this is sausage that was ground, not paste that was formed.

Eight Flavors to Look For

Grocery stores carry the core lineup — eight sausage varieties (seven smoked, plus the cooked Bratwurst), and it helps to know the field before you’re standing in front of it. No heat: Country Blend (the classic and the best first bottle of the lineup, so to speak), Beef (a 100% beef meat block, beef-forward — worth knowing it’s in a traditional natural pork casing, so it isn’t a pork-free product), and Bratwurst (finer grind, lighter color, the traditional German table). Mild: Chicken Poblano Monterey Jack Smoked Sausage — gentle poblano warmth, Monterey Jack smoothness, a lighter option that gives up nothing. Medium: Jalapeño (clean pepper bite, no cheese), Jalapeño Cheddar (the #1 seller — cheddar incorporated through, heat and richness balancing each other), and Hatch Green Chile (layered, earthy, and year-round, not a seasonal visitor). And the hottest thing in the case: Habanero, the newest flavor, made for the people who mean it.

Some stores carry more than the sausage. Depending on where you shop, you may also find summer sausage, whole smoked chickens, or smoked turkey legs, all in the same refrigerated case, so it’s worth a look around before you head for the register.

Six of the eight travel widest — Jalapeño Cheddar, Beef, Country Blend, Chicken Poblano Monterey Jack, Hatch Green Chile, and Bratwurst. Jalapeño and Habanero are the two worth a locator check before you make a special trip.

Why Your Store Might Not Carry All Eight

Here’s the question every loyal shopper eventually asks: why does one store have the flavor I want and another doesn’t? The answer is simple — shelf space is limited, and every store chooses its own mix based on what its neighborhood buys. Some carry a few core flavors; others stock most of the lineup. When a flavor isn’t in your store’s case, it hasn’t been discontinued. It just isn’t in that store’s rotation right now.

Two moves fix it. The locator will usually turn up the flavor you’re after somewhere nearby. And it never hurts to ask the meat or deli manager to bring a flavor in — stores listen harder than most shoppers realize. One customer wanted Opa’s at their neighborhood store badly enough to call the grocery chain’s headquarters seven times before reaching the meat division manager. The store carries it now. It shouldn’t take you seven calls; the point is that the calls count.

Can’t Find It? It Ships

The grocery shelf is the everyday door, but it’s not the only one. The full smoked sausage collection (all eight flavors) ships nationwide, cold-packed, from opassmokedmeats.com. The Sausage Sampler is the easy way to taste across the lineup in one box, especially the flavors your local case doesn’t stock. And if you’re curious what else comes out of the same smokehouse (tenderloins, hams, whole smoked birds, cured meats, summer sausage) that’s a whole tour of its own: Found Opa’s at the Grocery? Here’s Everything Else We Make.

You Only Hunt for It Once

That’s the whole map. Locator first, refrigerated case second, look for the name and the color, and know the eight so you can read the shelf at a glance. The next unfamiliar store won’t be unfamiliar for long. You’ll walk in, follow the cold, and find Opa standing on the label, right where he’s supposed to be. Blindfold optional.

Small Batch. Craft Made. Texas-German tradition — since 1947.

Find Opa’s near you with the store locator — Opa’s is on the shelf at leading grocery stores across Texas, the South and Southwest. Can’t find your flavor? The full lineup ships nationwide from opassmokedmeats.com, starting with the Sausage Sampler. And the source itself is open six days a week: the Deli & Market at 410 S Washington St in Fredericksburg, Monday–Friday 8 AM–5:30 PM, Saturday 8 AM–4 PM · 830-997-3358.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Opa’s stocked inside the grocery store?

In the refrigerated meat or deli case, usually near the bacon — never the freezer or a dry aisle. Opa’s smoked sausage is fully cooked and kept refrigerated. If you’ve found the store’s cold meats, you’ve found the right section.

What does the Opa’s package look like?

The Opa’s name runs large across the front with the Opa figure on the label, and every flavor wears its own color — yellow for Country Blend, red for Beef, bright green for Jalapeño, black for Jalapeño Cheddar, dark green for Hatch Green Chile, and so on, with Habanero also in red, set apart by its yellow-and-teal patterned ring. Once you know your flavor’s color, you can spot it across the aisle.

Which Opa’s flavors do grocery stores carry?

The core sausage lineup: Country Blend, Beef, Jalapeño, Jalapeño Cheddar, Hatch Green Chile, Habanero, Bratwurst, and Chicken Poblano Monterey Jack Smoked Sausage. Individual stores choose their own mix, so not every location carries all eight. The store locator shows what’s near you.

Is Opa’s smoked sausage fully cooked?

Yes — every link is fully cooked in the smokehouse before it’s packaged. At home, warm it through and add color over indirect heat on a medium grill or in a skillet. The work is already done; don’t dry it out redoing it.

My store carries Opa’s but not the flavor I want. What now?

Ask the meat or deli manager to bring it in — customer requests matter more than most shoppers think. In the meantime, the locator can point you to a nearby store that stocks it, or the full smoked sausage collection ships straight to your door from opassmokedmeats.com.

Does the grocery store carry the rest of the Opa’s lineup — tenderloins, hams, cured meats?

The smoked sausage is what nearly every store stocks. Some carry more than that: summer sausage, whole smoked chickens, and smoked turkey legs turn up in certain stores, all in the refrigerated case, so it’s worth a glance while you’re there. The rest of the lineup, including smoked tenderloins, year-round hams, whole smoked turkeys, cured meats, samplers, and gifts, ships nationwide from opassmokedmeats.com, and the Deli & Market in Fredericksburg carries all of it in person.

This post is part of The Sausage School — everything Opa’s teaches about choosing, warming, and serving smoked sausage.