Discount beers: the worst and the best of the worst

2023 Author: Cody Thornton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 19:13

Let's forget any gourmet pedantry and any critical habit: let's talk about discount beers. Those who sweat nervously but not very present, with swollen eyes and glazed eyes.

Unaware that a few years later they will make your night difficult and make the fortune of your gastric reflux.

They are all good at suggesting the first 10 beers to buy according to Slow Food, but what Dissapore asked me is: what do you advise us when Eurospin and Lidl, MD and Penny Market are your only horizon for abuse, excesses and thirst chemistry?

A type of better than the worst in practice, raising some small satisfaction if possible. Okay, I replied, it will not be an eminently gastronomic experience but I'm sure I will find some beers that are worthwhile, especially considering how much I pay for it.

Before those that are saved, however, I start with a bitter preliminary: 5 beers to avoid such as returning from holidays at the weekend with a red sticker.

The worst of the worst

PERLENBACHER - 5% Vol

59 cents (50 cl)

The cloudy that a white beer like Weisse should have and even the smell of wheat.

Too bad for the obvious hint of aluminum in the mouth, from the series "Close your eyes and be carried away by the wheat preserved in tins"), which makes us fail and remove this exclusive Lidl from the list of recommendations.

If you really want to buy it: to take to that party where, you already know, you will only eat semi-plain cold pasta.

OTWALD - 4.7% Vol

69 cents (66 cl)

The Belgian brewery Martens produces for LD and MD a lager with zero foam and a not exactly exuberant flavor, let's say.

Bizarre in the list of ingredients is the presence of unmalted cereals, added to give "body" to this kind of vat rinsing.

WICTOR - 4% Vol

49 cents (50 cl)

The unbearable lightness of the scipitous, the instant fading of the foam in direct competition with that of the effervescent aspirin.

Despite the Slavic sounding name it is a Martens product exactly like the previous beer, and given the same monstrous results one would think that they are the same thing.

ABBAYE DE OUDKERKEN - 6.2% Vol

1.99 per liter

Produced exclusively for Lidl Italia. And also for us fools that if the words "Abbey" and the number 1.99 fall in the same field of vision (the price per liter is indicated here, the 6 bottles of 33 cl "cannot be sold separately") we think we have won a terno al lot.

Alas, this is a Belgian Pale Ale that mimics itself, flat tones and artifact taste in a blatant way.

Just read the ingredients: shamelessly they parade one after the other glucose syrup, hop extract and the legendary E150c, which colors the scoundrel concoction with a caramel amber to simulate roasting.

HOFFENBRABRÄU - 4.7% Vol

65 cents (50 cl)

Not to be confused with Hofbräuhaus (Munich brewery built by William V in 1589). Here too there is a middle castle, however, indeed, Castello (UD), which owns Pedavena, a company that creates this masterpiece in reverse.

Flat lager with an annoying ferrous scent, includes corn among the ingredients. And it feels sadly.

The best of the worst

10. BEST BRAU - 4.8% Vol

55 cents (50 cl)

Worst of the best discount beers. However included in this bizarre list not for the taste, as bland as the afternoon TV programming in August. Not even for the scent that this German pils leaves in the glass: we are still looking for it.

Let's face it: on offer it cost 45 cents and all in all it has no unpleasant aftertaste or obvious defects. We must also know how to be satisfied

9. KENNER - 7.2% Vol

2.99 (for 4 bottles of 33 cl)

A friar who should go on a diet, basically the caricature of the more austere one of Franziskaner (historic Munich brewery) tries (or should) us from the shelves of Euro Spin & Co.

We are talking about a bockbier, a strong version of the lager, the bottom-fermented beer.

Screw cap, acceptable in perfumes, shows an evident imbalance with sheer peaks between sweet and bitter.

8. CASTLE - 6.5% Vol

1.99 euro x 3 (33 cl)

We will say: notes of toasted caramel, but it could also have been said: flat palate. The main advantage of this well-known lager is that it guarantees a medium-high alcohol content at an unbeatable price.

Evidently for Castello, the mega brewery in San Giorgio di Nogaro (as well as the former Moretti factory), owner of Argus and Pedavena, the matter of excise duties to be paid in proportion to the alcohol content of the beers should not be a problem.

7. ARCANA - 5, 8% Vol

1.79 euros (5th cl)

The Riccione brewery

Amacord, a brewery in Riccione that produces the most popular Tabachéra and Midòna, creates a line of discount craft beers for Target 2000. Despite appearances, it is not a regional TV, but a wholesaler who, since 2000, has been distributing acceptable beer in the large-scale retail trade. not renowned for the level of the offer. We found it at Lidl.

The first product on the list for which you can use the term "complex", thanks to the mixture of honey and yeast among the aromas.

Clear and with a not very persistent foam, not even the time to take the picture …, this Golden Ale (light, fresh, summer beers) is definitely worth the price.

6. IPA 6.1% Vol

1.49 euro (33 cl)

Stepsister of the Arcana just mentioned, produced by the same brewery, but better. Because to give an even “articulated” flavor is a list of ingredients worthy of the best known master brewer.

There are three malts: Pilsner, Vienna and Caramel Dark (which brings the note of chestnut honey). Four hops instead: Magnum, Chinook, Centennial and Ahtanum, a choice consistent with the IPA style, which means India Pale Ale. But Amacord took the poetic license to call it Italian Pale Ale.

He is not in the very first positions because winning like this is too easy: we still have to investigate dirty water and fluorescent labels to find the goodies.

5. VELTINS - 4.8% Vol

69 cents (50 cl)

The basic blonde beer that, honestly, appears in a thousand and one pizzerias. To understand each other: saying Veltins in Germany is like saying Moretti in Italy.

Inviting foam, you can feel the hops and also the final bitterness typical of Pils (from the Czech Plzeň, the region of Bohemia that gave birth to this style). Not even the shadow of the monstrous malted cereals encountered previously, the ingredients are water, barley malt, hops.

Super value for money: when you show up at a barbecue with half a dozen Veltins you know that everyone will remember you. The maximum with the minimum effort. Economic.

4. ARGUS - 4.9% Vol

52 cent

Lager, therefore low fermentation beer with yeasts inserted yeasts at lower temperatures, which recently by Lidl has replaced Finkbräu (same ethyl grade, same production style and same brewery, that of S. Giorgio di Nogaro, in the province of Udine, but with the black knight in a bottle).

At this price, who would expect persistent foam, the pleasant scent of hops and a nuance of flavor reminiscent of almond? Amazing.

3. PALS STRONG - 8.5% Vol

79 cent (66 cl)

The low cost version of the famous Bière Du Démon (subtitle: La Bière blonde la plus fort du monde), which flaunts the remarkable alcohol content on the tamarra label.

Ruffiana inside as well as outside, it is a combination of caramel sweet and bitter, rather persistent it must be recognized, which teases and speaks straight to the stomach.

2. PETRUS - 7.5% Vol

3.99 euros (75 cl)

Belgian Special Ale which, net of the caricature of the friar present in the bottle (sparkling wine type, with cork and wire cage), deserves the definition.

Don't be fooled by appearances: this tripel, a clear and strong type invented by Westmalle, the largest brewery for the Trappists, is really good.

The nose reveals citrus fruits and cereals, on the finish it has a very pleasant persistence. The most expensive found in discount stores, but less expensive and better than many imported beers that cost around five euros in classic hypermarkets.

1. LEUTE BOKBIER - 7, 5% Vol

4.99 euros x 4 beers of 33 cl

Stocky bottle with wooden barrel shown on the label. You will think: yet another ciofeca.

Instead the foam is consistent and the scent of spices inviting. The caramel flavor then reveals a true Belgian Strong Ale, a pairing to try with cheeses that have had their day.

How did a beer like this end up at Lidl?

There is a lot of curiosity and the counter-label reveals the mystery: the producer is Van Steenberge, the same as the more famous St. Stefanus and Gulden Draak. However, the mystery of the price remains, given that Leute is not the poor and somewhat unlucky line of decent breweries, as in some previous cases.

Elsewhere it is sold for much more.