10 May 2021

Giving the people what they want

For some unfathomable reason, my posts about Aldi's off-brand lagers are perennially popular with you lot. Never above a bit of click-bait, I filled a basket with ones I hadn't tried on a recent restocking expedition and then dared myself to tackle them. At one stage there was a grand plan to try them blind next to the brands they're aping, as I did with the Peroni one, but it started to look like too much fizz to get through, so these will be judged on their individual merits alone.

We begin with the Budweiser twins. I'm sure there's a very good reason for Aldi offering two different Bud lookalikes, though can't help thinking it must be confusing for a target demographic not used to making choices when it comes to beer. It could be that there's a transition afoot. Breysers is the legacy brand, one which has been around for ages. "100% premium quality ... authentic American style beer ... made in France" is all the essential data Aldi wants to get across to us. In the glass it's a proper pilsner gold with decent head retention, so therefore nothing at all like Bud on that score. There's a slightly metallic tang in the aroma, which does say American light lager to me, but at least suggests the possibility of hops. In the flavour, hops came there none. It's a surprisingly thick and sweet affair, very much unbalanced to the malt side. An initial hit of candyfloss and barley sugar tails off into an unpleasant musty damp-grainsack twang. The upside of all this residual sugar is a big and fluffy Helles-like texture, which is nice and süffig, but very much not the crispness that Bud drinkers will be seeking. This is a poor effort overall, a dismal beer and nul points for resemblance to its originator.

The new kid is Brookston, though they've gone more old-school in their blatant theft of Budweiser's image. This time the can gives us no clue as to the beer's origins, though does tell us it's "premium" four times on the front. Methinks the lager doth protest too much. Maybe it's my imagination because the photos are very similar, but I thought that this bore a closer resemblance to Budweiser: a slightly paler shade of golden. The sweetness has definitely been dialled back but that horrible sackcloth staleness remains, with a weird ready-salted savoury bite. Alongside the extra crispness, there's an accompanying watery quality, making it feel like something has been cut out of it. Some bonus points for tasting and feeling a little like Budweiser, then, but none for being actually enjoyable.

Next on the list for the homage treatment is Carlsberg, and Karlskrone is the Aldi answer. As with the previous two, the ABV is 4.3%, matching the Irish versions of the mainstream brands. It looks well in the Carlsberg glass: the right shade of bright and shiny gold. The aroma is innocent: weighty malt and a mild noble hop grassiness. All very promising. As with Breysers above, the malt leads the flavour, but it's not quite as intensely sweet. There's a certain level of crispness, and no off-flavours. Although it could be accused of being bland, I think there's enough character on display here to tip it into acceptability. I don't know that I would consider it an acceptable substitute for Carlsberg, however -- it's still too heavy and sweet for that. If you don't mind your lager being a little on the sugary side, I would almost recommend this. It's the first one of the sequence to offer actual value for money.

I didn't realise Staropramen had a sufficiently high profile to warrant a clone, but here one is. Strana is a little different to the others in that we are told the brewery of production, and its none other than my old mucker Pearse Lyons of Dundalk. Close followers of the own-brand lager scene will know that Lyons makes an excellent Czech knock-off for Tesco, called Manislav. Strana is the same ABV (5%) so I'm guessing the recipe is at least somewhat similar. It comes in a green bottle, too, so was giving off skunky vibes even before I brought it outside. That's really only in the aroma, however. The flavour is a flawless mix of crisp grain and grassy hops -- hallmarks of a classic Saaz-based světlý ležák. Definitely a cut above the others so far. Shame about the UV-permeable bottle, though.

Finally, what if San Miguel, but cheaper, asked nobody. San Marcos is Aldi's answer. "Tradicional cerveza especial ... brewed in Italy" says the label. It's a little lightweight compared to the real thing at 5% ABV, and looks somewhat pale by comparison too. I'm not at all a fan of that Spanish lager so no points will be awarded for similarity here. It's cleaner, drier and easier to drink, and more appropriate to warm weather. But there's a nasty element too; a plasticky tang that prevents it from being clean, bland and decent like the Karlskrone. The extra strength means it probably works OK as a food beer, where other flavours will mask the flaws. As such, if you're looking for something cheap and relatively cheerful for Mediterranean food -- Spanish or Italian -- this is worth a punt.

A couple of diamonds in this particular rough, then. I haven't decided yet whether I'll tackle the remaining clones. The Corona and Heineken ones are only sold in multipacks and that's a commitment I am not yet ready to make, even for the clicks.

7 comments:

  1. As far as I know, only the San Marcos is available here in the UK. Not that I've bought any of them at all.

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  2. I perceive the reason for the interest in the beers sold at Aldi is, especially in the U.S.A. when it began operations, Aldi opened its shops and stocked it exclusively with house brands. Which is itself, a variation of what every grocery chain had, and continues to have. But the Aldi difference was that the house brand was all you could buy there, and it was priced less expensively than the house brand at those other grocery chains.
    Aldi is still not present in every state in the U.S.A. It is in thirty-seven. Its first store in the U.S.A. opened in Iowa City, Iowa in 1976.
    Anyhow, the larger grocery chains did not appreciate the competition. The method they chose to condemn it was by deriding it as offering these lower-cost items. How many times to this day do you hear the cliché, "You get what you pay for"?
    Which is of course, another instance of repeating the lie long enough that enough people will believe it is true.
    So it is understandable that Aldi would proceed to have house brand beer and wine.
    I have a peculiar fascination with Aldi because it does take the shots at mass-market brands which are presented via brainwashing marketing campaigns, and | or will expend funds on aspects which have nothing to do with the quality of the product. (The official beer of the ____________.)
    The mass-market brewers are still struggling to understand the craft beer audience. They have settled for purchasing the breweries which brew the styles they seemingly do not know how to brew. They hope their brainwashing marketing techniques will succeed for those brews.
    And if this does not work, then they dispatch their distributors to on- and off-premise locations, and spend their funds to convince those venues to replace genuine independent craft brewer beers with the "craft(y)" breweries they own. Occasionally, they are caught and fined. But much of this goes undetected. The brainwashed-marketing technique could sell anything, even filtered urine, to persons wanting to appear trendy. To them, it is all about being seen with the package.
    Craft brewers do not have the werewithal to return the fire of mass-market brewery conglomerates.
    But Aldi does have money. It is willing to challenge the hegemony of them by brewing, distributing, and offering brews conceived as knock-offs of their brainwashed-marketing beers. Frankly, I, and I suspect others, enjoy seeing these mass-marketed brands toppled from their pedestal.
    Then, should they taste like what they're knocking-off? Or should they taste like what the beers could be with more attention to the style detail?
    Finally, at the Aldis where I shop, I see genuine craft beers in the same area as the knock-offs. In metropolitan Chicago, Revolution, Two Brothers, and Goose Island (oops) are on offer. (Could this be why there is no Budweiser knock-off here?)
    Wernesgrüner Pilsner is another quality import which I have frequently bought.
    I essentially feel more people should be made aware of craft beer. But should they feel they would be out of their depth trying to select a beer in an off-license shop, the craft beer selections at Aldi are a solid rung on the ladder.
    I ponder if the antagonism toward Aldi is an effect of "beer snobs" believing craft beer cannot be obtained from a grocery store?

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    Replies
    1. It's rare for Aldi to sell non-own-brand craft beers here, but their archrival Lidl does it on the regular.

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    2. Ye and lidl have far superior beer aswel

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  3. All aldi beer is terrible i tried them all

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  4. Anonymous12:25 pm

    I would take karlskrone above many brands including Budweiser Heineken and carlsberg
    At fraction cost

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