The dialectic of Craft Beer Weeks at Lidl
Lidl run what they term craft beer weeks a few times a year. This involves them expanding their normal beer range to include offerings from some well known and some less well known breweries.
In the past both Brewdog and Oakham have participated in Lidl Craft Beer Weeks but currently (the week notionally finishes on 19th May but stocks will probably be around for a while longer) they are not participating.
This time there are cans from Boss (Swansea) and bottles from Wychwood along with several beers from Love Lane (including a sour). My interest is drawn (these beers have featured previously) to a NEIPA which sells for £1.79(440ml can, 5.3%) and a DIPA which sells at £2.19 (440ml can 7.4%).
Both beers are decent examples of the style but are really representatives of what the Victorians called the ‘slop’ trade. That didn’t refer to beer slops btw but to the practice of undercutting on price (and often quality)for things like shoes and clothes.
I’m not sure any quality sacrifice is particularly involved here- though cheaper ingredients may be used.
The price however is arguably beyond competitive, undercutting by far what bottle shops can do and even lower in general than much larger retails such as Tesco manage. Most 440ml craft beer cans in Tesco sell for £3.
That is not really a good thing in my view and I should underline that my purpose of visiting Lidl was not primarily to buy beer although I was aware that a craft beer week was on-and indeed you could hardly miss the large display towards the front of the store.
On the other hand given the price might it not attract drinkers who haven’t tried NEIPAs and DIPAs before and persuade them to try more? Lidl doesn’t stock these as part of its core range so they would need to look elsewhere-possibly even a bottle shop.
It’s a complex dialectic and to some extent an unknowable one. Its also however we ponder it, a reality of current and historic commercial practice too.
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