As of today (Thursday 1st November) Aldi stores in Scotland are running a beer festival of all Scottish beers. I should point out in the interest of impartiality that I was sent some of the beers directly from Aldi to review. This doesn't take away from the fact that it is exciting to see more and more food retailers taking beer seriously.
The promotion will run until all the beers have sold out and there are 27 to choose from. Most of the beers are priced between £1.29 and £1.79, which I think is pretty fair for the beers on offer. Don't get me wrong not all of the beers exactly tickle my fancy and not all of them are that hard to get elsewhere, such as the Broughton beers, but it is still great to see a retailer taking in 27 beers for a once of festival.
The breweries taking part in the festival are- Barney's, Deeside, Broughton, Innis & Gunn, Caledonian, Cairngorm, Harviestoun, Colonsay, Inveralmond, Kelburn, Strathaven, Williams Brothers, The Isle of Arran Brewery, Tryst, Traditional Scottish Ales and Sulwath.
Aldi have also prepared one of their usual marketing magazines which details exact beers, prices and handy tasting notes.
I for one would like to see more and more retailers taking beer this seriously and giving smaller microbreweries a chance to get listed in national stores. I will be reviewing 6 of the beers that Aldi sent me during the course of the festival via the blog and YouTube reviews.
If you are near a Scottish Aldi store in the next few days/ week(s) I would go in and have a look and grab some bottles for the looming dark evenings.