Which Aldi Beers are good enough that you wish you could clone them?

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Silver_Is_Money

Silver_Is_Money

Larry Sayre, Developer of 'Mash Made Easy'
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I have two candidates that I find to be very good beers:

1) Wernesgrüner Pilsner

2) Boot Tread Belgian Amber Ale

Of all of the Aldi beer offerings, I find these two to be worthy of attempts at cloning. Call me crazy if you must, but these are solid beers.
 
It depends where you are, Aldi usually features local produce, in Scotland where I live we have excellent beers from local breweries being sold on the shelves. There is of course a great panache for IPA's but I find that even local small breweries don't make quite as good IPA's as homebrewd, they are often unbalanced and too bitter and cannot be dry hopped. Many times i have read the label, "luscious tropical flavours" only to be disappointed.
 
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Agree with @MSK_Chess , their shops are usually quite a fair bit smaller than most other supermarkets but for quite a few years now they have had a decent range of local beers and they have a few scottish beer "festivals" each year where they stock the one that sells the most.

One thing I wished they did was stock a few more german beers or change them about a bit. The best german beer they sell at the moment here is imo Steinhauser which I believe is a DAB beer, it's at the minimum price legally in scotland and has a bottled on date, so as long as you check that and you pick up a pack from the middle of the pallet (green bottles :( ) then they tend to be pretty fresh.

I probably wouldn't want to clone it though! It's an inoffensive but better than euro piss lager. Now if they stocked Jever, Flensburger or something like Rothaus then I'd be in like Flynn

How does Wernesgrüner Pilsner compare to beers like that out of interest? They don't sell it here
 
Hanglow said:
How does Wernesgrüner Pilsner compare to beers like that out of interest? They don't sell it here
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I would give Wernesgrüner Pils a score of 3.9. I like the breadiness, and it has good mouthfeel. Very hard to pass up at $6.99 for 6 x 330 mL bottles. They were smart enough to use amber bottles to keep it from skunking.
 
It is my understanding that Wernesgrüner is one of the oldest breweries on earth. It never got much press, perhaps due to being located on the former 'East Germany' side of Germany. Aldi has breathed life into them.
 
Illustration in Kunze's book. Don't know if it constitutes an endorsement or sponsored content, but shows some kind of status!

BTW only reason I've ever gone into ALDI.
1575216489918.jpg
 
And from Dave Miller's pathetically outdated Pilsner book, showing an awareness of it in the West back in the day:
1575216884825.jpg
 
You're crazy. There. I said it. :)

Ah, what the hell. I always say people should do what makes them happy, so if cloning these brews makes you happy, then go for it.

It never would have occurred to me, in my wildest dreams, to buy Aldi beer in the first place. :)
 
Ain't never been there, they tell me it's nice.

I have an Aldi a half mile away. I always thought it was an entirely off-brand sort of super-discount deal. It's been there a while so they must have something going on that works. I'm game.
 
davidabcd said:
Ain't never been there, they tell me it's nice.

I have an Aldi a half mile away. I always thought it was an entirely off-brand sort of super-discount deal. It's been there a while so they must have something going on that works. I'm game.
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Aldi can be hit and miss. But, they own Trader Joe’s and I’m convinced many of their organic offerings are the same, except for price. Ours is usually really good - although some things I won’t buy there, e.g. meat. Agree with above, Hop Lift is pretty good.
 
Wernesgrüner was on tap across the street from where I stayed when working in Porto for 3 months. One of the better beers I've ever had in my life and was sad I never ran into it before or since. Too bad the nearest Aldi is 608 miles from me.
IMG_1894.JPG
 
I tried the Bacher beer and I think it is quite good as well. Fuller body compared to the pils. Here in Texas they are both only $5.99 a sixer. Best deal around if you are out of homebrew!
 
davidabcd said:
Ain't never been there, they tell me it's nice.

I have an Aldi a half mile away. I always thought it was an entirely off-brand sort of super-discount deal. It's been there a while so they must have something going on that works. I'm game.
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Aldi was founded in Germany (Albrecht discount) and their main idea is basically to be real tight fisted on everything you can, except product quality and to some extend also regarding the treatment and payment of people working there.

This means the store is not good looking, no decoration, nothing, but everything which they don't spend on this stuff, directly lowers the prices of the products.

It also often happens (at least in Germany), that big brands names sell their stuff under a false name for cheaper at Aldi, so in general, it's actually a nice store with overall really decent products for cheap.

However, beer and Aldi did not go so well.... At least not in Germany, but I've never been in a UK Aldi.

I am surprised to see them selling Wernesgrüner. Although I don't remember drinking it, it is definitely one of the more known brands in Germany.
 
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Here is the land of Freedom, most grocery stores can't sell beer. So no Aldi's beer for me ( I go to Aldi stores in PA, MD and NJ). I'll reserve my right to start a rant about asinine liquor control laws for another time....
But I'll keep looking for Wernesgrüner, and maybe try to clone it.

A quick search indicates that the beer is only availalbe at Aldi's in the US.

A discussion about cloning the beer can be found here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...e-breadiness-of-wernesgruener-pilsner.549925/
 
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There is also two types of Aldi in germany depending on which brother owned it, I think Aldi Sud is the cheaper one that is also in non-english speaking countries and Aldi Nord which is a bit better quality and in UK/US etc.

I've bought beer before from the Edeka chain in Germany online and they shipped it to me which was nice. Was about £1.50 a bottle including shipping, although they have now stopped doing that. They had a decent selection of german beers, better than Aldi
 
As to the second of my selections: With a name like Boot Tread, it has to be good! (shamelessly plugging it into the Smuckers corporate slogan)

Just kidding of course. But whomever dreamed up that name for an ale they expected to actually sell should have been fired.

On the plus side, I never would have imagined that Cascade and Saaz hops could play together so nicely. And the noticeable levels of biscuit malt and roasty flavored caramel malt work well together also. Such a simple ale, with such a nice flavor.

This well-balanced amber ale is brewed with fresh cascade and saaz hops, biscuit malts, moderate bitterness and a touch of roasted caramel in the finish.
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Aldi
 
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Hop Lift is the only beer I've tried and liked from Aldi. The rest has been subpar.

And the quality of Aldi really depends on your location. In Charlotte, they're nice. My mom just came to visit from NY and she said the stores are awful there.
 
It just dawned upon me that the seemingly all but forgotten 'Sterling' hop is a cross between Cascade and Saaz. Mmmmm...
 
Bilsch said:
Wernesgrüner was on tap across the street from where I stayed when working in Porto for 3 months. One of the better beers I've ever had in my life and was sad I never ran into it before or since. Too bad the nearest Aldi is 608 miles from me.
View attachment 655161
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Awesome that you happen to have a photo of it as well. Nice!
 
mongoose33 said:
You're crazy. There. I said it. :)

Ah, what the hell. I always say people should do what makes them happy, so if cloning these brews makes you happy, then go for it.

It never would have occurred to me, in my wildest dreams, to buy Aldi beer in the first place. :)
Click to expand...

The Aldi in Platteville sells New Glarus. ;)
 
mongoose33 said:
So does every other place. You can't throw a rock 100 feet without hitting a six-pack of Spotted Cow. :)
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True, but it still surprised me that even they had it. The Mexican (actually Guatemalan) lager is one of my guilty pleasures. I started buying it because I wanted some clear bottles for mead and I've bought it a few times after that.
 
I tried the Boot Tread Belgian Amber Ale (kinda like a Fat Tire) and for the money it was a very good beer. Sometimes you get a beer there that isn't that good. I got a German Pilsner there once and it was a sulpher bomb and I didn't like it at all. Thought it was just a bad one and tried another from the six pack and it was the same.

John
 
madscientist451 said:
Here is the land of Freedom, most grocery stores can't sell beer. So no Aldi's beer for me ( I go to Aldi stores in PA, MD and NJ). I'll reserve my right to start a rant about asinine liquor control laws for another time....
/
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Same for me here in NJ. Aldi's doesn't carry beer in the county I live in.
This year I happened to be in an Indiana Meijer store on Easter Day. Meijer had Leinenkugel's Canoe Paddler by the case, stacked shoulder high. Although Leinie's sells other products, Canoe Paddler can't be found in NJ. I blame the Mafia distributors for this.
Anyway, I was hopping up and down like a little kid. Indiana doesn't allow alcohol purchases before noon on Sundays and I was there at 10AM. I purposely came back just after noon and bought two cases. :)

Thanks for mentioning the German Pils in this thread. From the recommendations given it's convinced me it might be a German beer worth searching for.
 
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Silver_Is_Money said:
I would give Wernesgrüner Pils a score of 3.9. I like the breadiness, and it has good mouthfeel. Very hard to pass up at $6.99 for 6 x 330 mL bottles. They were smart enough to use amber bottles to keep it from skunking.
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Oh really? At my Aldi it comes in green bottles. That was going to be my one complaint and subsequently the reason why I haven't bought any of it.
 
beersk said:
Oh really? At my Aldi it comes in green bottles. That was going to be my one complaint and subsequently the reason why I haven't bought any of it.
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It has always been in amber bottles. It still looks just like the picture in post #6 above. Are you sure you are looking at Wernesgrüner Pils?
 
Silver_Is_Money said:
It has always been in amber bottles. It still looks just like the picture in post #6 above. Are you sure you are looking at Wernesgrüner Pils?
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No, now that you mention it, I'm not. I will look again when I go next.
 
I studied in Germany for a bit in the early 90s, right after the Wall came down. A guy who lived on my dorm floor (who had incidentally spent time in prison for trying to escape the East - twice) brought me a bottle of Wernesgrüner, and I was impressed. I found it at a Midwest Aldi 15 years later, and was a bit disappointed. I suppose it was just old?
 
My wife got me the Beer Advent Calendar this year from Aldi. I haven't really dug into the beers yet. I did drink the Wernesgrüner Pilsner since it was the day 1 beer and I also had the Boot Tread, because the Belgian Amber Ale sounded like it would hit the spot last night when I got home from work. I'll report back if anything pops out as needing to be cloned.
 
I am a big fan of Aldi in general, Belgian beers, and their Boot Tread is a nice beer. The cascade is a little too much for me, but I grew my own cascade hops for several years so it will be a bit yet before I come back around to it.

I may take a crack at brewing something similar this weekend, an amber ale with Belgian malts and probably 3787 / Omega Belgian W yeast.

10# Pilsner
1# Biscuit
1# Caravienne
6oz Special B
8oz CaraMunich

Bittering hops @ 60min, then Styrian Goldings or Cascade at 10 min to desired IBUs.
I aim for 6.5g to fermentor, for a full keg and a couple of bombers, so OG 1.054, FG around 1.010 to 1.012, 5.5% ABV, 22 IBU. SRM should be around 12.

I may drop the Special B down to 4oz and up the CaraMunich. Might be better to bring up the maltiness and increase the SRM to around 16-18.
 

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