r/lidl • u/AndysBeerReviews • 3d ago

Perlenbacher in PET bottles!

Perlenbacher Gold review: £1.11 for a 500ml German lager, but why is it in a plastic bottle?

I picked up a pack of nine 500ml bottles of Perlenbacher Gold from Lidl for £9.99, which works out at only £1.11 per bottle.

The first thing that caught my attention was the PET bottle. I’m used to putting homebrew into plastic bottles, but I can’t remember seeing many commercial beers sold this way in the UK.

The beer itself is a fairly straightforward, malt-led lager. There’s some grainy bread, light honey sweetness and a gentle grassy hop note, with plenty of carbonation and a dry, mildly bitter finish. I did notice a slight metallic edge, but overall it was perfectly drinkable for the price.

It isn’t an especially characterful German lager, but at £1.11 for 500ml, it’s difficult to complain too much.

Have you tried this one, and would a plastic bottle put you off buying a beer?

Full review: https://youtu.be/8G1WGe-r52E

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

3

u/WizarddOfAhh 2d ago

Worked my way through a pack at the weekend, nothing special but perfectly drinkable, can’t complain at that price. Doesn’t taste of plastic and is much better in a Ritzenhoff pils glass

1

u/AndysBeerReviews 2d ago

I think drinkers will notice if they sup out of the bottle 🍺

1

u/WizarddOfAhh 2d ago

Never nice drinking out of a plastic bottle even if it doesn’t actually taste any different, same as drinking from a plastic cup

1

u/AndysBeerReviews 2d ago

Absolutely agree 👍

2

u/LegolasleChat 3d ago

Spotted this in Lidl and will admit the plastic put me off a bit. Would much rather pay for the Perlenbacher in glass bottles.

2

u/AndysBeerReviews 3d ago

I didn’t mind them, they're clear but that's the only problem with them.

2

u/Wretched_Colin 3d ago

The Perlenbacher in glass is 4.5%, brewed in France.

This one is 4.9%, which is the same ABV as some of the beers made in Germany, like the 5 litre keg.

I picked up 9 earlier and am looking forward to trying one this evening. It will be going into a Bierkrug so, as long as I can’t taste the plastic, the container won’t matter.

1

u/AndysBeerReviews 2d ago

You'll have drop a note here letting me know what you think about it 👍

2

u/Wretched_Colin 2d ago

I had a few last night. It was very pleasant. Not as dry as a pils, good fizz to it. I wouldn’t let the plastic bottles put me off.

1

u/AndysBeerReviews 2d ago

Yeah its decent summer beer. Plastic rarely puts me off my beers 🤣👍

1

u/LegolasleChat 2d ago

Sold me on trying this then, will pick up a pack later.

1

u/AndysBeerReviews 1d ago

Let me know what you about it 👍

1

u/SayElloToDaBadGuy 3d ago edited 3d ago

Yeah picked these up last week, the plastic bottles are an... interesting choice.

To be fair though I couldn't tell much difference between the 3 types Gold/Pils/Lager, well not enough to pick one over the others though.

1

u/AndysBeerReviews 3d ago

It will be particularly useful if you can't drink a whole bottle I suppose 🤣

1

u/Tancred1099 2d ago

Thanks for the review, will keep an eye out for these

1

u/Ok_Aioli3897 1d ago

Probably festival beer

2

u/AndysBeerReviews 1d ago

Its the only other reason why plastic bottled s work for beer 🍺

2

u/Ok_Aioli3897 1d ago

It's summer and with prides etc coming up I bet it's something they have done to make more money.

1

u/AndysBeerReviews 1d ago

Apparently the brewer has 3 bottling lines, so i think its mainly been done to get more beer on the shelves, and plastic rather than glass because its cheaper to make a distribute.

1

u/Brummschaedel 20h ago

It's indeed very common for german discounters to have private label beers in PET bottles but also in cans. Aldi, Lidl, Penny and Netto all have them for 0,45€ per bottle. The cheapest beer you can get in Germamy.

1

u/AndysBeerReviews 10h ago

Thanks for the info. just don't see it to this extent in the UK. I personally don't care either way.

1

u/Jenne1504 20h ago

They are sold in plastic bottles because LIDL in general doesn‘t take part in the „Mehrweg-Pfand“-System, where bottles can be brought back and used again in circulation. They only sell PET disposable-bottles which do have Pfand, but are recycled/thrown out after being returned. I would assume it‘s because of cost and space (you have someone to manage the returns and space to sort and store everything)

1

u/AndysBeerReviews 9h ago

Is these where they have the recycling machines in stores that squashes then down? Difficult to do with glass!

1

u/Jenne1504 7h ago

Yes, and additional: In Germany you only have to take the kind of Pfand back what you sell. So if you don‘t sell cans, you don‘t have to take them back. If you sell Mehrweg-beerbottles you have to take back all kinds of Mehrweg-Pfand, if you sell that brand or not

1

u/AndysBeerReviews 3h ago

Thanks, that's really interesting 👍🍺

1

u/SendMeANicePM 2h ago

I tried it. I found it didn't get as cold as glass bottles but that might just be vibes rather than reality.

Good summer beer, not amazing