ALDI beer knockoffs

My wife likes the Deutsche Küche Brand. Not all items are imported, some from the US.

 

I have only made it about halfway through this thread, so forgive me if this opinion has come up before.

But I really do not get all the hate of the Aldi discount beer brands.

I cannot get past the analogy to every other supermarket grocery item that is available to us. Every time I go into my local Kroger I am almost always presented with a name brand item and a Kroger brand discount item that is very similarly marketed but is priced less than the named brand product. the marketing is similar enough that I know that the two products are analogous but it is clear to me which one is the name brand and which one is the Kroger store brand. Personally, I'm actually thankful to Kroger for this because I purchase the Kroger brand items often based off of my experience of quality versus the discount in price.

In this scenario I have a hard time differentiating beer from any other grocery product. It would be one thing if the labels were so misleading that I thought I was buying Heineken, Corona, Blue Moon, etc. from Aldi. But they are not. They are labeled similarly to the grocery store brand items that I brought up in my reference to Kroger. Similar enough that I know that the proposed discount alternative is a supposed equivalent, dissimilar enough that I know that I am not buying the name brand product.

 

That's actually the argument people are making. If you looked at the heineken look-a-like, you really have to do a double take.

Unless you are a real beer person (and I don't mean a BA, i mean someone that drinks beer often), you may not have any idea what "that beer you like" is actually called. Packaging looks the same. Must have been Holland Beer. I think it was from Holland. Right? Eh, looks the same. Probably right.

That's what most people are getting at here. IF heineken never existed, how much "holland" beer would be purchased (given the exact same packaging)? They're benefiting, for sure, and it's not just because Kroger Beans are half the price of Goya. (Also, those products are arguably the same; these 2 aren't. There's product differentiation here, but not with beans.)

 

A LONG time ago I recall purchasing a six pack of Moxie. Back when there was some sort of interest in old-timey sodas. (around 15 years ago?) Didn't like it. I don't get why people stan on Cheerwine either. I'd pick up a sixer of Ale-8-One every week if I could, though. Still don't understand how it hasn't made it's way outside of Kentucky.

 

I suppose that it’s technically a little shady but seems sort of a non-issue as far as beer geek concerns go. I’m not going to get too upset if Heineken loses out on some sales. Now if they start selling cans of Fill Harmstead Society & Soliloquy #6 then we have a problem

 

Dude, it's like 10% less, if that on store brand beans versus name brand.
Again, the folks that purchase the knock-offs are just trying to stretch a dollar and have some semblance of normalcy in their lives.

 

Don't worry, they won't, because there is no money to be made from selling something that is obviously a not-so-great looking version of a niche item to those living on a budget. They're casting a wide net with big holes.

 

Uncured pretty much means "without added pure sulphates", but if you check the label on those products, they all contain celery extract/juice/etc. Celery is naturally very high in sulphates and is relatively flavorless. It's just another way to get around labeling laws.
Could be sulphites instead, don't chop my head off.

 

Ah! Found it.

 

I have a hard time believing it is that misleading, even for the average beer fan. Going back to the grocery store analogy, I am by far and away not a connoisseur of Cheez-Its. In fact I probably purchase them once a year. But I can still easily tell the difference between the Kroger Brand cheese cracker knock-offs, the Aldi brand cheese cracker knockoffs, and Cheez-Its. For any averagely intelligent consumer I just do not see this as being an issue.

 

If you're referring to me, bring it.
A troll would've left completely. I took a break from the thread to collect myself.
Sorry that I'm not as educated on the proper rules of debate as some of y'all are.

 

[not. a. real. concern. but I feel extra comforted now haha]

 

Here are the two pictures:

vs.
The difference between these "knock off" beers and the cheeze it's example is that the knock off cheese its have a "value" brand name. These appear to have a real, genuine brewery. With cheeze it's, anyone can see it's the walmart brand. With the Aldi's example, you'd have to know the heineken name, because it's not "Aldi's Holland Beer".

 

Show up to a cookout where folks know and expect Heineken (probably not something the average BeerAdvocate user would do) with a six-pack of Holland and see how much shit you get.

 

To be more clear, the argument that many people are making is that Aldi's is selling these beer brands as if they are the brand they are copying. This is different from all other discount brand sales that you traditionally see in a grocery store, where the two can't be confused. The example of discount cereal (sold in large bags, not boxes) is one example. Beans or Cheeze its (sold with the discount label name, which you know is the "house label" is another. In all of those cases, there's no attempt at subterfuge. They let you know right up front: hey, this is our version. In the case of Aldi's beer, they're doing everything possible to convince you it's the real product.

 

Here is what Harvard says are the criteria for trademark infringement;

Can't know #1 but I'd imagine dfh has a solid legal team and has done some work to ensure their trademarks are would.
Not sure how #2 is interpreted, I'd imagine one reason store brand cereal or beans or whatever are so easy to distinguish is that they're right next to the brands they are insinuating, not the case at aldi.
#3 seems clearly against aldis favor as the sea quench knock off is very similar
#4 doesn't exist since the sea quench imitator hasn't actually been on shelves yet (I think)
#5 probably goes in Aldus favor since they aren't trying to get their beer into the wider beer market
No idea how they would measure #6 or what the legal conclusion would be in regards beer buyers
#7 probably goes against aldi since it seems they are at least trying to leverage the effort put into the sea quench brand by dfh to market their product, if not actively trying to confuse.

Would be an interesting case in my opinion. My suspicion is that there is never going to be any public legal proceedings and that dfh will either decide its not worth the effort/cost or that aldi would settle and change the packaging if pressed.

 

I think that must be the key. No one is advertising Aldi's knockoffs and they aren't competing outside of their own stores.

 

Ya may well be, just for my.own curiosity about this kind of stuff I'd love to see a case like this get adjudicated.

The fact that they are only in their own store also makes it easier to confuse customers because I can't look at the real deal side.by side with the aldi brand. I have to know my beer label well AND know that aldi doesn't carry dfh to be "knowledgeable" enough to not mistake one for the other

 

No Bliny the middlester!?!