Aldi - whats happened?

Over the last few years I've always found that Aldi, the discount supermarket, would on occasion stock some great deals and one off 'specials' when it came to beer.   

 
Often these would be linked to various international celebrations, like Samuel Adams Boston lager at July 4th/Thanksgiving. Oktoberfest would see some German beers, in fact given that Aldi is originally based in Germany you used to see beers such as Franziskaner Weissbier and Schofferhofer Hefeweizen at random times in the year also.

Arcobrau Weissbier Hell was another example of a great beer, they followed that with the same brewery's Winterbier which was a good example of it's style.
It was this time last year we saw the Schwaben Bräu brewery 'Das Helle' and 'Das Schwarze' which were okay to be fair.

But it is now a year since our branch, and another couple I have visited on occasion, have had anything interesting, the only 'special' on in the last few months is cans of Courage Best.

The regular stock on the beer shelves is the same boring unchanging line up, even Batemans do not seem to have supplied any celebration/sporting event/holiday seasonal beers that I noticed .

I was wondering if this is a regional or national thing, is your Aldi still stocking good beers or have they disappeared too?

Schwaben Bräu 'Das Helle' and 'Das Schwarze'

I've already written a little about these two beers here, and mentioned in my last post that these had already sold out my local Aldi. Maybe yours still has some so lets get onto the beers.

Das Helle is a 5% abv  "Traditional South German Beer - Black Forest Helles".

Light yellow in colour, initially a head but that soon goes,hints of sweetness, bread, and a little grass too. It was easy to drink, refreshing, clean.

To me its seems like I only just typed this, the same tastes and thoughts, and its because this beer was rather similar to the Arcobräu Winterbier, both being Helles style beers.
Of the two I found the Arcobräu slightly preferable, it being a little more upfront with the hops when I considered the two together.

The 'Das Schwarze' is a 4.9% abv  'Black Forest Dark beer' according to the label, a Schwarzbier.
I drank this and was a little underwhelmed, it seemed light on aroma, taste and body.

A little internet searching gave me a description of a Schwarzbier as "Dark brown to black. Medium body. Roasted malt evident. Low sweetness in aroma and flavor. Low to medium bitterness. Low bitterness from roast malt. Hop flavor and aroma, "noble-type" OK. No fruitiness, esters." (Ratebeer)

Well this is I suppose hitting most of those descriptions, certainly the 'low' end. This had a thin body to my mind, and was quite forgettable. 


In the first post comments were made on the cost of these beers, considering they were on sale in Aldi, and I agreed, and certainly now I've tasted them I have to agree that there are better beers widely available, and I dont think I would buy them again, certainly not the Das Schwarze.

Arcobrau Winterbier

Just as my last post was talking of new beers in Aldi, this week I see those bottles are all gone and in their place is another bottle from Arcobrau. This intrigues me, will it be as good as their wheat beer?

'Winterbier' is 5.5% abv and £1.59, 500mls.
The reverse label says "genießen sie mit arcobräu winterbier vollmundigen geschmack und ein mildes hopfenaroma" which run through Google translator comes out as "enjoy it with full-bodied flavor Arcobräu winter beer and a mild hop aroma." Think I could of got the last bit myself though!!

A little research on the interweb shows its classed as a Dortmunder/Helles style lager. 
It pours a light yellow/golden colour, fizzy head that poured over the glass actually, cleaned up it took a nice photo.

Aroma is light and clean, a little grassy hops and sweetness, a whiff of honey, the taste is similar, very clean and fresh, medium carbonation, a hint of biscuits with the malt, light grass hops.

Really enjoyable, really drinkable, I'm not sure if I'll buy many more as its not one of my preferred styles of beer but all the same I wouldn't turn one down.

Aldi 'Das Helle' and 'Das Schwarze'

New into Aldi this week is two german beers 'Das Helle' and 'Das Schwarze' seemingly produced by Schwaben Bräu who according to the wikipedia entry

 'is a brewery owned by Dinkelacker-Schwaben Bräu GmbH und Co. KG and located in Stuttgart, Germany. The company owns the largest brewery in the German state of Baden-Württemberg'

 The bottles are 500mls each and both £1.79.
The Helle is a 5% abv  'traditional South German Beer - Black Forest Helles', whilst the 4.9% abv Das Schwarze is described as a 'Black Forest Dark beer'.
Anyone tried these before?

I'm hoping they will be pretty good as they seem to have replaced the Arcobrau Weissbier Hell which was a staple purchase of mine over the last six months.

Arcobrau Weissbier Hell

Just as I comment on one of the Ormskirk Barons review's about the lack of decent German beers in Aldi over the last couple of years, I spy bottles of Arcobrau Weissbier Hell on their shelves, £1.49 for 500mls, 5.3% abv.

I buy one and open it.
A big head as you see, cloudy yellow, great aroma of banana, yeasty and a little pepper?
Very smooth, dry, not as much banana as the nose suggests, the classic bubblegum is there, some sharpness of lemon, wheat and just yummy overall.
That was yesterday, and today, because I went back and bought more.

Because right now I needed something soothing and alcoholic, when you've been vomited on by a patient (I'm a nurse) at work, this is how you unwind and deal with it. When you go to change and find the shower room so full of xmas decorations and broken chairs that you cannot access a shower this is what you do. So sorry, not the end of the review you were probably expecting, but sometimes life's shit and this is how I deal with it.

In summary, this beer is good, buy it, and Aldi sell more like this. Cheers.


Oh and happy 200th post to me!

Tesco (and Aldi) beers offers

The Tesco 4 for £5 seems to be back on, stocking up for Xmas for £1.25 a bottle seems like a good idea.

Most of the main shelf fillers, Fullers, Badger, Thwaites, Adnams, Brains, are on offer, plus many others. One new to the shelves and in the offer is Bath Ales 'Ginger Hare'. Some good winter warmers included are Adnams Broadside, Fullers ESB and 1845, and Morelands 'Old Crafty Hen' which normally retails at £2.79!

Brewdog's Punk IPA is also on the offer which means 4 bottles is currently cheaper than you can get their Punk four pack cans at Sainsbury's.
Also new was cans of Sapporo 'imported', which are huge, 600mls + and look very special, just like the price of £2.25, but seriously, check out the can!

As well as some of the above i predict a few Thwaites Wainwright and Fullers Bengal Lancer might be sitting in my shed before too long.

Also popping into my inbox was news that Aldi this week are stocking Banks's Ultimate Curry Beer!! I checked it out on ratebeer i see no reviews for the bottles for over 5 years, a line revived from the back of the brewery obviously. £1.49, 500mls, it used to be 5.3%, wonder what it will be now.

Bateman's Miss America

A bottle celebrating American independence with a hoppy ale brewed with US liberty hops. Why Bateman's are celebrating US independence I'm not sure or is made clear.

This had a small bubbly white head, good golden colour.
Aroma to me was a little metallic and piney, a little of warm orange.
Its taste is backed up by a reasonable solid medium body and good carbonation.

The malts seem quite sweet, but there is very little in the way of hops that are noticable apart from an unpleasant aftertaste of resin. There seems to be a faint spice element, and a little citrus but not a lot.  For me an average beer.

Avaliable from Aldi now for £1.49, but seeing as they currently still have loads of Bateman's XB in there currently i would rather buy that over this bottle, far better beer from them.

Really not sure on the label either, what's with the portly cheerleader??

New Aldi & Lidl beer offers

To my mind the only supermarket shelves that seems to providing new bottles to try are Aldi and Lidl currently down my way, Tesco & Asda rarely changes its line up, and other supermarkets are not on the doorstep. A little planning needed before going to Morrisons, which inconveniently shuts at 8pm (!), and its not often i get there after work before that time.

To be honest even the Lidl is a little out the way and often i wonder if the deals they have on are worth the deviation. Certainly the beer nut has saved me wasting my time before driving out to them.

Latest offers:
Aldi have another Batemans bottle in, this one called 'Miss America' at £1.49, part of the US theme aldi have going on.
"An amber coloured, hoppy beer with a grapefruit flavour. Pale, crystal and wheat malt are combined with Liberty hops from the USA to give this beer its crisp citrus finish."

 They are more likely to get my money though spent on the second bottle offer - Samuel Adams Boston Lager and only £1.19. Shows the effect of inflation as this bottle was only 99p this time last year, but still a bargain for a great tasting beer.

Over at Lidl the latest bottle  from Shepherd Neame is their 'Summer Sizzler' 4% and only 99p.  
I wonder if the current  Pencil and Spoon series on 'When beer goes bad' will include lightstruck beer before i try this Shep bottle?

Batemans XB

I picked up a bottle of Batemans XB from Aldi, a bitter 4.1% 500ml, not bottle conditioned (camra says its not real ale). I drank this last week, our first meal outside at the start of the half term with the weather being unseasonably good.

In the glass its a light red brown colour with a small frothy head, a caramel malty aroma. Taste is biscuity , its got a almost ginger nut spice to it, pepper, flowery hops with a nice subtle bitterness. Bateman beers tend to have a very distinctive taste about them, you know when your drinking one, but its much more subtle with this bitter, and better for it too. I possibly served this too cold to be honest but on such a hot day it went down a treat.

Aldi Hoegaarden deal

Just as i post that their latest deal is not quite as good as a current Tesco one, Aldi produce one that is better, and one i probably will buy. 
Deal: Hoegaarden 75cl bottles for £2.29, and this beats Tesco's current 2 for £5.
Recently this has been a sunshine go-to-beer, one sitting in the fridge, a cool damn refreshing beer. Crisp, lemon, orange, light spice hints, its a classic beer. I'm certainly going to tuck a couple away.

Aldi: Badger Beer offer and Batemans XB

Sitting in the middle isle of my local Aldi is a Badger Beer 'Spring/Summer' box of 12 bottles. Costing 15.99 it has three bottles each of Tanglefoot, Long Days, Englands Gold and Fursty Ferret.
That works out at £1.33 a bottle which normally would be a reasonable bargin for lovers of Badger but in view of the current 4 for £5 Tesco offer, the Aldi offer is beatable.
Granted though the Long Days bottles are not currently in my local Tesco branch, perhaps they are in yours and included in the offer, but i was not keen on it when i reviewed it , so three bottles sitting around waiting to offload on a visitor is an option but one i'm not taking here.

I did however pick up a new bottle from Aldi, the Bateman's XB, little brother of the perennial shelf stocker XXXB.  Its the first time i've seen it in the Bateman's own form, they previously both appeared on their shelves in the 'specially selected' range.

Aldi used to have quite a good selection of beers, they often had new and interesting british and european bottles like 'Franziskaner Weissbier' and 'Schofferhofer hefeweizen', but over the last year they seem to have fallen into a rut of just supplying the same old things, never a new line, the same old honey bottle from Skinner's, Banks Bitter, quite disappointing really.

Leffe Blonde Gift Pack

Stuck for a Christmas present for a beer loving friend? I just picked up yesterday from Aldi this Leffe Blonde 330ml tube gift pack which includes a nice branded glass, quite a solid one too, all for £3.99. A bargin indeed, and i already have someone in mind for the second one i bought.

A Christmas Ale,

well three to be precise.

One of the regular emails from Aldi dropped into my inbox, informing me that amongst their new offers were two xmas ales, namely Batemans 'Rosy Nosey' and Wychwoods 'Bah Humbug'. I picked these up earlier today, and put them alongside a bottle of Whittingstons 'A Winters Tail' (all their beer's names have links to cats btw).

I started with the Batemans beer, (surprisingly no regular endorsement from Roger Protz on the back, like their other non bottle conditioned bottles). 4.9% and 500mls. A dark amber colour with little aroma other than that unmistakable Batemans smell that accompany's all their bottles. Flavour is, well, average, some sweet maltyness, slight spices but nothing is distinctive, its quite thin and i wouldn't have said this was a christmas beer if i was given it without seeing the bottle or knowing its name.

Next was the Wychwood Bah Humbug 5.0%, again a dark amber colour, its aroma though is cloves, some cinnamon i think but clove dominates. Taste wise its again cloves, but there is no balance for anything else. The Schneider Weisse beer i tried recently has cloves but its balanced so that the other flavours come through. I wouldn't drink this again, its a little unpleasant.

Hastily i moved onto the Wittingtons ' A Winters Tail' 5.1% with its dark reddy brown colour and a creamy just of white head. Has a woody aroma with some dark malts, not quite a coffee or chocolate hit though, cannot put my finger on it. Taste is on a lightish body, its dry and malty, a very very light smokeyness with hints of fruit.


Overall i preferred the Whittingtons, a better balanced beer, the Batemans was pleasant enough, but the Wychwood will not be in this house at christmas.