Dave Van de Walle

Jun 19 2020

New Video: Meet A Rose from Aldi Called Trestoria

Hi everyone! You know we love Aldi wine and beer. And, given the current state of the economy, we’re spending more time at Aldi for just about everything*.

To wit, a little while back, we decided to experiment and see what Quarantine Beverages we could buy for a minimal amount of cash.

Hence this photo:

Aldi Aclohol Purchases — You don’t have to spend a lot to drink like a million bucks.

Today, we review the Trestoria Rose. (We’re looking for the accent mark, can’t find it, and are afraid that we’ll have one of those “&–” errors on the site, so…)

We’ll let you watch the video for the review.

Focus on the wine, not the fact I need a haircut

* The rest is either from Costco, and we do realize we need to update this “What to Buy at Costco” post, or from the local independent market, where the service is better than the chain and the specialty items we need, like the marjoram we bought on three separate occasions because we thought we were out of it.

Jun 07 2020

A Venezuelan Sipping Rum Worth The Price

I’ll admit to having scored this one for its novelty factor; seeing a rum from Venezuela of all places sounded rather interesting. I’m glad I bought it, as Diplomatico scores serious points as a sipping rum.

First of all, I’m not an expert on rum; in fact, the sum total of my rum knowledge is limited to ordering a “Bacardi and Coke” as my go-to “End of Meetings, Must Stay Awake for Mandatory Dinner” drink during my corporate days. (And I gave up soda ten years ago, so the Rum and Coke days are done, too.)

Diplomatico Rum — Diplomatico Mantuano Rum – Product of Venezuela

I will, however, admit that the thought of sipping something that wasn’t whiskey was intriguing. So, having found this at my unnamed local wine, beer, and spirits place, and seeing the price was under $30 at the time, I went for it. Let’s take a look.

Taste

Your fear of rum could be similar to my fear of rum: if you don’t mix it, what do you do with it? That brings us to the concept of just sipping. A rum. With nothing else going on.

If you wonder how that actually works, check out this video from an International Rum Ambassador:

(I want this guy’s job when I grow up.)

I tasted mine neat, but can understand the desire to water it down at least a little; next time, I’ll do it on the rocks to cut down on the strength. I didn’t find it too overpowering, though.

I get the “caramel” and “molasses” notes that other tasters mentioned on other sites (here’s a link to a review from another site that tried the “Exclusiva” from Diplomatico). And, again, this rum, to me at least, is designed for sipping — though it’s possible you could mix it with cola.

Profile

40% ABV (80 Proof). For comparison, Captain Morgan normally clocks in at 75 Proof.

Value

$24.99 was what we paid back then; the price seems to have gone up to around $30 for the lower-end (which is what we sampled). You’re not going to have it every day, but this bottle has lasted me the better part of a year.

Metasip Grade: B+

I teetered back and forth between B+ and A-; I don’t think I’ve sampled enough rum to go with an A-, though, so we’ll keep it here for now.

Enjoy!

Sep 05 2016

Folded Mountains Majesty (er, an A-rated beer from Aldi)

Dave returns (!) with a review (!!) of a beer from…well, duh, Aldi. Is it worth the money? Does it get a good grade?

Hello, sports fans. I’m back. (I won’t bore you with the gory details of my absence; suffice it to say I can now tolerate some libations. And I’m also visiting Aldi again.)

I thought I’d return to what made me happy about beer – the pale ale – and used the most recent trip to Aldi as an excuse. So let’s give this one a try: Folded Mountains Pale Ale. From Aldi. Did I mention I got it at Aldi?

Taste

In a word: Hoppy. That, to me, is a good thing. I want a pale ale that pushes the boundaries between hoppy goodness and IPA bitterness. (I have discovered, through years of research, that my own preference would be an IBU figure of about 45.) This one has to be right in that zone, I would bet.

Allow me to apologize for being wrong all these years. The correct term is “International Bittering Units.” I thought it was “Bitterness.” Oops. Metasip regrets the error.

My all-time favorite beer is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and this reminded me a ton of that. (Foreshadowing the eventual grade for this one.)

Profile

5.3% ABV. One is plenty for the aging beer-drinker with cluster headaches. (Brewed in Rochester, NY.)

Value

If memory serves, I spent $6.99 on the six-pack.

Let’s talk about pricing for a second, not on this stuff, but on all ales. WHAT GIVES? I’m telling you, it’s like I took a break from drinking, came back, and everyone raised the price on everything. Why? Because they can? Because they should? Supply and Demand? The FDA?

Srsly, $10 is becoming about the norm for a six-pack of anything “craft brewed” – and I get it, you need to charge a premium, but I’m all like “whoa!”

Metasip Grade: A

Yeah, I’m going there. This is an A-rated beer, and I don’t care that we give out so few As and it’s been at least a year since I rated beer here. From the first sip to the last, this beer reminded me of Sierra Nevada, and that’s a really good thing.

Please go get some. Thank me later.

Apr 18 2015

After Three Sips of This Beer, I Read the Label…and What I Found Shocked Me!

Another beverage knock-off from our friends at Aldi. But this one…

We’re back with another review of another beer – but we’re also having a little fun with this fact: Writing ridiculous headlines that ask people to click on a post can only work if you (1) have something interesting to say and (b) use too much hyperbole. So, while the real headline here should be something like “An Aldi Beer that’s 11 (or so) Ounces” or, more accurately, “Boot Tread Amber Ale Review,” we went with what’s called a “BuzzFeed-style Clickbait Headline.” Reality: After Three Sips of This Beer, I Read the Label…And What I Found Shocked Me!

Consider yourself an SEO test case. We’re gonna see how well this works.

Boot Tread Beer Review

Honestly, I picked this up because I was at Aldi and it was a “Belgium Amber Ale.” And it had a very “where have I seen that label before?” look to the bottle. (Hint: Fat Tire.) And the price was good – or so I thought! – leading me to say “what the heck?”

Taste

Closer to Blue Moon in taste – an assistant Metasip taster said “that is like Blue Moon, but hoppier” – I found it to be rather average, actually. Not even close to Fat Tire: too much of a wheat beer feel for me.

Profile

Again, wheat. If I had to guess, I’d put the IBUs at about 10 or 15.

Value

Here’s where the “scandal” comes in:

IT’S NOT A 12-OUNCE BOTTLE!

Math: $6.49 for a 6-pack, 11.2 ounces per bottle, equals roughly 9.657 cents per ounce. OR, if this were a 12-ounce bottle, we’d actually be looking at $6.95 for a 6-pack.

Since Fat Tire is normally about $8.99 a six-pack, this is a value in comparison. (If you’re comparing to Blue Moon – price of that vs. Fat Tire is pretty much a wash.)

Why 11.2 ounces? No idea.

Metasip Grade: B

I wasn’t wowed by this beer, and found it too close to Blue Moon and not close enough to Fat Tire to fit into a nice, clean category. Were it a direct knock-off, like the last Aldi beer we reviewed, it would get a higher grade. But no.

After Three Sips I Read the Label…

Okay, what I found didn’t actually shock me, but it did have me question why there’s .8 ounces less per bottle than the norm.

Mar 16 2015

Quick Take: DrinkersBox

As we mention our latest Quick Take, we’ve learned that the fastest way to critical mass in selling alcohol-related products…is not to sell alcohol.

Think about that for a half-second – while we tell you that this is an AFFILIATE LINK to today’s “Quick Take” – here in the USA, 50 different states have 50 different sets of rules about selling and shipping alcohol. And there’s that whole thing with “reciprocal states;” it might be worth your while to establish residence in some states to be able to drink their stuff. Bringing us to a unique service called “DrinkersBox” and their monthly mystery box: everything but the alcohol. It’s INSANELY clever. From the site:

“Brought to you by the guys who’ve brought you the awesome reviews on TheDrunkPirate.com for the past 7 years, DrinkersBox is a monthly box full of awesome drinking-related gadgets, apparel, hangover cures and anything else the postal service will let us ship – All automagically delivered to your door each month.”

Here’s a screengrab of what their actual box looks like – it varies from month to month, but might be worth trying out!