ALDI beer knockoffs

ISO!!

 

Funny how that works, eh? I laugh/cry because we are typically at the top of the list for bad things, at the bottom for good. I was born in PA but have been other places before moving back and it really is a world unto its own and you can't quite describe it but it is definitely there...

 

You can still get it here in MA if you put in a little effort. I think their demographic is diminishing by the day though...

Edit: looks like the cans have temporarily been discontinued. And I didn't realize it was the state official state beverage of Maine! I also didn't realize states had official beverages.

https://wcyy.com/having-trouble-finding-moxie-in-stores-theres-a-reason-why/

 

While drinking them I never thought I was drinking anything great. None ever impressed me. Most are labeled, so you know who the contract brewer is. The German green bottles were all just examples of those styles, which don't vary a lot anyway, and usually are all funky from being in green bottles for so long. The American styles were mediocre contract brews.

Life it too short to drink inferior beer. Take my advice, skip Aldi's and head to the real beer store.

 

I always described Moxie as carbonated cough syrup but an Angostura Bitter Soda is an apt description

proctologist approved or else !

 

Stoneface is here

https://stonefacebrewing.com/

 

Uh oh I didn't see them on Stone's list yet so they better lawyer up soon!

 

Seamus O'Hara, the founder of Carlow Brewing, has said publicly that his contract brews for supermarkets are not the same recipes as the main O'Hara's range.

Take that for whatever it's worth.

 

Love to see the quote.

Met Seamus when O'Hara's was introduced to the U.S., spent an evening talking Irish Stout (and drinking it) with him -- he's a good man.

Still be rather odd that he'd have 2 separate recipes for 2 beers that are so similar. Re-labeling would be easier and cheaper.

 

Not sure how the fonts aren't the same, both use off-kilter, multi-sized lettering. The idea of the laws isn't necessarily that people can put the two things together at the same time. In many examples people have used with other products, the original product and the knock off are available, usually next to each other. This easily may not be the case with beer.

So, as an example let's say a random person grabbed a sea-green can with a lime off the shelf in ALDI that only had their beer. The person didn't like it because it was flat and bland. Then a month later, the same person runs into a similar can when deciding on a purchase and says, "I didn't like that beer in a green can with a lime on it." There's a lost sale to the IP owner based purely on similarities of packaging.

As we know and have discussed, the reasonableness of such claims is what the courts are there to decide, as is the IP owner's decision as to whether the loss is worth suing.

 

Not much between the lines here, but the story is worth a read.

Irish Times article.

 

How do they taste compared to the original?

 

Cheaper.

 

Aldi, Lidl, and Costco all have their knockoff beers. I suppose it falls in line with their other categories.

 

What jumps out in that article is this: "The O’Shea’s sell at a price of €1.89 a bottle."

O'Hara's core range is about €3 a bottle.
So why undercut all of your own distributors by selling exactly the same product in a supermarket for 2/3rds the price?

It doesn't have to be a different recipe to be a different beer - could be an O'Hara's batch is simply liquored down (i.e. diluted) for Aldi.
e.g. O'Hara's don't have a pale ale at 4.3% like the O'Shea's, but they do have an IPA at 5.2%, so... just add water.
Guinness do that, too; it's common practice.

 

Aldi is good for cheese, chocolate and brats. We went this morning.

 

Not sure in the age of Covid I want to eat anything with "uncured" on the label.

 

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