ALDI beer knockoffs

All these discount beers should be evaluated by the buyer. I don't think they should necessarily be called knock-offs, but private label beers. I look for a brew with a moderate alcohol content and a balanced malt and hop palate. Aldi doesn't sell beer in NY, but Costco, Lidl, and Trader Joe do. Costco and Trader Joe private labels aren't too impressive to me. Lidl offers ales from "638 Brewing Co." that can be identified with some effort. I like No 03 and No 07. Perlenbacher German Pilsner is pretty good too. The brewer of this beer is obscure, but I tentatively attributed to "Mauritius".

In California in the 70's every chain store had at least one private label (at Safeway, there were two, Brown Derby and Padre). Eventually, generic "Beer" appeared, so every corner liquor store had a cheaper beer.

 

Since this thread seems to have expanded to broader issues of Aldi's "knock off" products, permit me to share a personal anecdote. Back in the ’09-ish recession, we were going through some financial difficulties and Aldi was a Godsend in terms of having a sense of normalcy. Before the Aldi opened, we were shopping at Sav-A-Lot and buying mostly private label items at the grocery store, except for cereal. We had to buy the bagged cereal because that’s all we could afford. Do you know the kind of looks you get when rolling up to the register with a cart full of store label items and those cereal bags? I do. Opening the pantry and seeing those cereal bags was another reminder of our financial situation. It was so f**king depressing on a daily basis; just this constant reminder of what we lacked. Over time, the kids ate less and less because we all just hated opening the pantry.

We once found Cocoa Krispies on sale at a convenience store and when it ran out we filled it with some generic chocolate cereal and glued the box shut. Do you know how painful it is to tell your kid “No, you can’t do the puzzle on the back of the box.” Because if they did it, you can’t reuse the box. It was a constant struggle to keep their spirits up. When Aldi opened, it completely changed things for us. Other people in the store were buying the same things we did. My kids didn’t feel bad about not getting the brand name because everything looked like a brand product. They knew it wasn’t the same thing, but it was close enough to make them feel normal again. It was a respite from the weight of our struggles. They went from saying “this doesn’t taste good, why can’t we have the real Mac and cheese?” to cleaning their plates. Would that have happened with a less direct form of packaging? I honestly don't know. When you're poor, everything around you just reinforces the feeling of poorness. The "close enough" aspect of Aldi's products helped restore some of our dignity.

I appreciate the arguments regarding their appropriation of others' trade dress. Frankly, I find all of the IP stuff fascinating. I would just encourage a broader perspective when saying things like “sh*tty business model” or “unethical behavior” because I guarantee that there are families out there for whom it makes a big difference. And even though our situation has changed, we still shop there frequently. I haven’t seen the private label beers at the Aldi we usually go to, but I will definitely pick some up if I do.

 

Thanks for the reality check.

I'm glad your family is in a better place now.

Cheers!

 

Wernesgrüner Pilsner was one of the East German export beers. Never thought much of it, myself. Muhlhausen Pilsator was a way better beer.

 

Wait, people buy Faygo? I thought it was only used to spray down concert goers. I likes a trunk full of Faygo and a call full of fat chicks as much as the next guy; I just didn’t know people actually drank it.

 

AT or FROM? I’m slightly poking fun, but in Indiana, all the drug stores (CVS, Wal-Greens), they sell ALL alcohol, and especially liquor. They are your neighborhood liquor store in many cases. -And their prices are better usually than any liquor store.

 

@Roguer I hope you learned that nothing good ever comes in this world from apologizing to a troll online.

 

Telling verb there.

 

I was thinking that myself. I've never had either beer. Do they taste pretty much the sane?

 

Ours sell beer and wine only, liquor stores are state run. Prices are always high, much higher than food stores, so I’m sure they turn slow and they’re old stock. The Lowe’s Foods has a beer bar inside with 5-6 taps, Growlers to go in different sizes, a sanitization station that’s top of the line, they serve wine, you can sit and relax or have a beer while you shop. They also have a great craft selection and the dating can be better and they usually are better than the bigger beer stores in Greensboro, same price. .

 

So it seems this thread went off the rails and escalated fairly quick.

Bottom line for me is this: if you're shopping at Aldi you should know what you're getting. If you don't notice or can't tell the difference between the original and a generic or knock-off you are obviously not very perceptive.
Having purchased a few different beers from Aldi, you know for ticking purposes, there's nothing mind blowing and they seem to be just close enough to the original they are trying to imitate (or is it mimic?) to pass. However I rarely purchase again.
Not a fan of this whole flavored seltzer fad, but I have heard that Ali's brand is beyond terrible.

Will any of this stop me from buying this DFH imitator? No, again, gotta tick...

 

Your not fooling anyone if you think people can’t tell the difference between the cans. The can color is very close but that’s about it, the can art and fonts are completely different.

 

No idea. I've had Sea Quench, but the Aldis around here don't sell beer.

 

I got to visit (informally) one of the breweries in Muhlhausen. A highlight of my beery life.

 

Ignore works SO much better!

 

Moxie was mass marketed at least a decade before Coca Cola

 

That’s not a friendly looking man(child) at all. What a terrible image to sell anything. I’d even prefer that my proctologist smiles rather than looking like that guy.

 

Don't worry soon ALDI will soon have a beer called "Stoneface" that looks and tastes nothing like a Stone beer but Stone's lawyers will still be all over it and then any of these "knock off" beers will have to disappear.

I can relate to this in some ways, as growing up it was a regular thing for us to only be able to afford the bagged cereal. In fact Tupperware-esque things catered to this demographic and smartly sold reusable cereal containers for cheap and they were nice to have for many reasons.

Anyway, appreciate the different perspective and glad to hear that things are better now!

Stop it, you're making this PA resident sad.

 

If you've ever tasted Moxie you would know that the label should indeed be some sort of stern warning that what you're about to buy tastes absolutely terrible

*as an adult I actually kind of like it as a mixer since it basically tastes like Angastora bitters soda. But man was that a disappointing surprise as a kid!

 

I used to work in PA a lot from 2005-2010, and I am well aware of just how crazy PA alcohol laws are. Terrible. I am glad it is somewhat better. Funny thing is, I have run into so many other issues that are not even closely related, but are a problem in PA but not elsewhere. (They are specific to my work and not applicable here, but it is just funny how You don’t run into these issues in other states. PA is so very unique.)