Store Brand Beer?

Hyvee makes baraboo. I've only had the wheat beer and I thought it was ok. Their winter seasonal, a Belgian dark ale, gets solid ratings.

 

I've been impressed with the Trader Joe's Line of house beers.

 

They've been around since the 19th century. For one example, there was Budweiser, which originally was brewed by Adolphus Busch for his friend, Carl Conrad, usually described as a wine merchant.


AB also originally brewed Faust for a local St. Louis restaurant.

Most every large regional supermarket chain had their own brand of beer - maybe the brand brewed by more breweries than any other was Safeway's Brown Derby Beer.

A&P's brand was Tudor, not Ann Page (go figure).

The company now called WX (formerly "Winery Exchange") acts as a middle-man supplying store beer brands to a number of different chains, most of their domestically brewed brands brewed by Genesee in Rochester, NY. WX Beer

 

We have a local sports bar chain called Arooga's who has partnered with a couple different breweries to produce beers under the Arooga's brand. I haven't tried any of them but may reconsider after the little research i did this morning.

Arooga's Light - Arooga's Brewing Co.
Arooga's Amber Ale - Boston Beer Co.
Arooga's 2nd Street Session IPA - St. Boniface Brewing Co.
Arooga's Wingstinguisher IPA - Pizza Boy Brewing

 

My first beer was Kroger Cost Cutter brand somewhere around 1985.

 

I had two bottles of the TJ's Heller Bock on Tuesday evening; it tasted great and was $6.99 for six. They were unfortunately out of the Spring Prost

 

The brewer World Brews looks to make beers for specific stores, IMO.

Caguama is in Kroger, Tap Room is in Harris Teeter, Four in Hand is in Whole Foods, etc.

 

Trader Joes annual "Vintage Ale" is pretty solid, especially for the price point, and last I saw it was brewed by Unibroue.

 

I don't mind Trader Joe's or Kirkland's variety pack.
I also like Fred Meyer's Fire Station 5, but not every store carries it anymore.

 

The Baraboo Lumberjack IPA and Fireworks Blood Orange IPL are also decent.

The Walgreen's house brand, Big Flats 1901, is a fair-to-middling AAL, better than some and cheaper than most ($2.99/6 in these parts). Aldi offers a bunch of exclusives of various styles, the only ones of which I have tried so far are Wild Range IPA and Bacher Lager. I found the IPA subpar, but the Bacher Lager was pretty solid. I may get around to trying more of these. If Aldi offered mix-a-sixes, I'd be on it in a New York minute.

 

I didn't even know this was happening and I live in Indiana. I may have to go buy some at that price point.

 

Yea TJ's beers are often brewed by well respected craft breweries. Their house IPA was brewed by Firestone and now is brewed by Uinta. Their Hibiscus Tripel is brewed by Hardywood, and is delicious.

 

Trader Joe's beers have all left me underwhelmed and I have tried many of them because I have friends and family who think they are just fine. The ones I have had seem to be well-made without a lot of obvious flaws but the recipes seem to all be bland.

 

Trader Joes beer is good for the price. I also heard Aldi might have a new store brand beer. Anyone else hear that about Aldi's?

 

Kirkland's Amber is not bad at all. Their others range from so-so to not good.

 

Just wanted to thank you for not saying 'price point'

 

Tap Room 21 is a Kroger brand and Kroger owns Harris Teeter and Kroger also has Dieselpunk. I just saw "Trouble Brewing" when I was at Walmart last week, it's a Winery Exchange brand, but I am wondering if it's a Walmart house brand or whether it's just a random product that somebody got into Walmart:

Trouble Brewing - Cats Away IPA
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/21092/221969/

 

I have not had much luck liking store brands. When I see Rochester, NY or New Ulm, MN as the location of some fictitious brewery name on the beer's label, I know I'm not going to like the beer so I don't buy them anymore. (I think there is a contract brewer in Chicago too.)

The exception seems to be Trader Joe's, and especially the Vintage Ale. I agree with the post up above that speculates that it is made by Unibroue. I think Trader Joe's tries to use breweries that have some excess brewing capacity and a good reputation for their own beers, thus better quality. (It's been a while since I've looked at the label on any of their beers, so that may have changed.) The 'pure' contract brewers are asked by a store to provide a low cost beer for an in-house brand, thus cheaper ingredients are used and the product's quality reflects that. I really doubt that the brewers at the contract breweries have the artfulness to try to produce anything for which they can be proud.

 

Do they offer it in less than the 30 or 36 pack the Kirkland beers originally came In? I would try it but not if I have to buy more than a sixer.