The Best Beer On Aldi's Shelves Is Fittingly German-Style

Aldi is one of the cheapest grocers around, with a long lineup of healthy snacks, pantry staples, and frozen food. It doesn't neglect the adult beverages either, based on this list of private-label wines. And, like any good German grocer, Aldi has quite the selection of beer, 9 of which we sampled and ranked according to aroma, carbonation, and flavor profile. While we tried a variety of different types of beer, the winner was Wernesgruner Pilsner, which is, very fittingly, a German pilsner that's imported from a centuries-old brewery. 

The Wernesgruner Pilsner was unexpectedly the best of the bunch, fulfilling all of our tasting criteria and making for a can we didn't want to put down. To begin, the Wernesgruner comes as a tallboy in a 16.9-ounce can, so you get more bang for your buck right off the bat. When we cracked the can open and poured it into a tall glass, the golden straw hue and bubbly appearance looked as refreshing as it would taste. 

Pilsner is technically a subcategory of the light and bubbly lager beer category, but with a hoppier profile. And the Wernesgruner Pilsner follows this description to a tee. It has a light and bready flavor, with a bitter and hoppy finish that lingers after each sip. The fizzy carbonation combined with the beer's delicate maltiness and bitter edge resulted in a sip that was especially crisp and sophisticated.

Aldi customers were as impressed with the Wernesgruner Pilsner as we were, according to several reviews on Reddit. One Redditor wrote, "When I want a good pilsner, this does it for me." As for its authenticity, another proclaimed, "This is an actual German beer and not a rebadged private label like a lot of Aldi stuff." 

While it might not be the best German pilsner on the planet, according to one Redditor, "This tops the cake for [Aldi], and also the price is really good." At a little over $6 per 4-pack, you can fill your pint glass without doing too much damage to your weekly grocery budget. Plus, the Wernesgruner Pilsner received a score of 80 from Beer Advocate, which is no small feat. A Beer Advocate review described the taste as having an "Immediate tang from the yeast [that] gives way to a satisfyingly mildly-toasted biscuit. Nice bit of bitter to carry it along, but never overpowering."

Since a fun fact about Aldi is that it was founded in Germany, know that the store will also carry many other German products to accompany the German beer. A crisp, hoppy, and slightly yeasty Pilsner will be a refreshing complement to a meal of pork schnitzel, which you can find in the frozen section at Aldi during the store's much-anticipated German week. Of course, there's no better pairing for your beer than a gigantic Bavarian pretzel, also available in Aldi's freezer section.