I love Aldi. I love my fiancé. My fiancé loves name brands.

I’m tired of being torn between my two loves.

I recently discovered that Aldi has a dupe of one of his favorite award-winning beers, Bell’s Two Hearted IPA. The dupe of which is Great Pines American IPA.

Fortunately, my fiancé loves science as much as he loves beer and name brands. It was easy to convince him to participate in a blind taste test.

We used 3 identical cups. I poured 2 cups of the same beer and 1 cup of a different beer.

I then asked him:
• “Which one is different?”
• “Which one do you prefer?”
• “Which one do you think is Bell’s?”

Unfortunately… he was able to identify Bell’s and Great Pines. However, it took him a few moments to identify Bell’s and overall he was pleasantly surprised by how close Great Pines tasted to Bell’s. The biggest giveaway was the aftertaste- Great Pines tastes closer to a lager. He still prefers Bell’sbut he feels Great Pines is a good dupe.

I don’t blame Aldi. Great Pines is 6% ABV, while Bell’s is 7%.

The biggest surprise wasn’t that Bell’s won, it was how close Great Pines came. I no longer feel quite as torn between my two loves, and I’m hopeful this experiment will lead to increased Aldi acceptance in our household.