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Aldi’s Next Big Thing: Where to buy Yorkshire pudding beer, Harry Specters, a bar of crisps and more
Suppliers also pitched ice-cream, Scottish empire biscuits with a twist and craft rum in the finale
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Your support makes all the difference.Channel 4’s Aldi’s Next Big Thing has been an absolute treat for the eyes over the past six weeks, so it’s fitting that the show finishes on an indulgent high. It’s treats week, and there were some decadent goodies up for consideration in the show’s final episode, with an extra surprise for one supplier. If you’re watching on catch-up, fair warning – spoilers lie ahead.
The Dragons’ Den/MasterChef-inspired concoction has pushed the boundaries of what a business show is. Unlike other televised competitions, you’ll find the winning products from Aldi’s Next Big Thing in the aisles of your local store the very next morning, where it’s stocked as a Specialbuy for a limited time.
Throughout the course of the show, we’ve seen everything from Jamaican rum cake and chicken curry pie to fruit bags for kids and vegan crisps find a home on the supermarket shelves. As well as tonight’s winning product, The Greek Farmer’s charcuterie from week four will also be launching nationwide.
“We have really enjoyed this experience. The point of the competition was to find and work with some brilliant British suppliers, and we hope this is the start of some long and prosperous relationships,” an Aldi spokesperson told The Independent, hinting the partnerships could continue beyond the show.
In tonight’s final episode, we’ll see small-scale British suppliers pitch everything from Yorkshire pudding beer, Scottish empire biscuits with a twist, and a social-impact chocolate brand to dairy ice cream, craft flavoured rum and, who could forget, a chocolate bar stuffed with crisps.
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In a wholesome finish, Aldi’s buying director Julie Ashfield decided to crown not just one small-scale supplier this week, but two, so they’re both coming to your local store. Tears and smiles all round.
Intrigued? Here’s where you can buy all the products from the final episode of Aldi’s Next Big Thing. Until then, we’ll be gorging on snacks and waiting impatiently for confirmation of season two.
Malton Brewery’s Yorkshire pudding beer: £1.49, Aldi.co.uk – available in-store from 25 November
Talk about indulgent, father and son-team Howard and Harry have created the most beautifully British beer in existence. Each Yorkshire pudding beer has half a pud in it, and, according to Ashfield, it’s super creamy. The first supplier tonight to win the Aldi contract, you’ll be able to buy a 500ml bottle for £1.49 tomorrow morning and kickstart your weekend.
Malton Brewery makes its Yorkshire pudding beer by soaking large quantities in malts in a mash tun, adding a blend of its special hops, before moving it into the fermenter, adding yeast and letting it stand.
Since launching the beer, the company has expanded into Yorkshire pudding pink gin, Yorkshire pudding whiskey, Yorkshire pudding and strawberry jam vodka and, yes, even Yorkshire pudding soap. You can buy the beer from both Aldi and Malton Brewery’s website. The company sells four bottles of 500ml for £12 and eight bottles for £19.95.
- Buy now from Aldi – available in-store from 25 November
- Buy now from Malton Brewery
Harry Specters chocolate bars: £2.49, Aldi.co.uk – available in-store from 25 November
It was the most wholesome pitch of the entire series – a Cambridge-based chocolate factory social enterprise that employs people on the autism spectrum, who create, fill, box and sell luxury boxes of chocolates. The panel were in love with Mona, Shaz and Ash’s creations, but after the company pivoted to chocolate bars instead of gift boxes, for Ashfield, it was a no-brainer.
From tomorrow, you’ll be able to buy chocolate bars in three different flavours – milk sea salt caramel, milk peanut butter, and dark orange – for £2.49 each. If you’d prefer to buy Harry Specters chocolate in a box, or just want to buy direct from the company itself, its chocolate boxes start from £13.45 and go up to £47. The company sells a range of different chocolate bars in dark cameral, dark orange, milk sea salt, milk peanut and more, starting from £4.95.
- Buy now from Aldi – available in-store from 25 November
- Buy now from Harry Specters
Chocolate Moments bar of crisps: Chocolate-moments.co.uk
If there was one thing that made us go “eurgh” and “oooh” at the same time, it was Maria’s bar of crisps, which is, as its name suggests, a chocolate bar stuffed with crisps. Judging by the reactions of the show’s hosts, it actually tasted good. While the bar of crisps didn’t make the cut, you can still try the sweet and savoury snack from Chocolate Moments’s website.
It comes in ready salted, salt and vinegar, and cheese and onion flavours, with each 100g chocolate bar costing £4.99. The company also sells “create-your-own slab bars”, where you tell the company what type of chocolate you want and what toppings you want on it, including Haribo, jelly beans, sprinkles, hazelnuts, meringue, mini marshmallows, dried fruit and more.
Buy now from Chocolate Moments
Burning Barn craft rum: Burningbarnrum.com
Flavoured, fanciful gin has taken over the world, and Burning Barn wants to do the same for rum. The company, based in a fruit farm, makes smoked rum that’s aged in American barrels, with the panel describing the taste as Bourbon-esque. But despite having shelf-appeal, it wasn’t to be for the company.
Thankfully, the spiced craft rum can be bought from Burning Barn’s website. It sells a smoked rum, which has hints of apple and burnt treacle, for £36 per bottle; a spiced rum, which is blended with toasted coconut, dark molasses, aromatic allspice, fiery ginger and bird’s eye chilli, for £34 per bottle; and a honey and rum liqueur for £30.
Bidlea Dairy ice-cream: Bidleadairy.co.uk
Adam and Becky transformed their struggling dairy farm in Cheshire into a thriving ice-cream business. But while Ashfield loved the taste, describing it as fresh, rather than “coating the mouth”, it wasn’t quite unique enough for a spot in Aldi’s supermarket, potentially due to it already stocking 20 varieties of ice-cream.
If the flavours enticed you, fingers crossed you live near Cheshire and the surrounding area, as you’ll have to pop down to the Bidlea Ice Cream Farm to get a taste. There are also a number of stores that stock Bidlea Dairy ice-cream locally, but again, you’ll have to travel to get it.
Twisted Empire Bakes biscuits: Instagram.com
If you’re a fan of the classic Scottish empire biscuit – made up of two pieces of shortbread that have been sandwiched together by jam – Gillian’s twisted vegan version of them might have you taking a trip up to Kilmarnock, or one of the cafes that stock them in Glasgow, as it sadly won’t be available on the shelves of Aldi.
Twisted Empire Bakes’s flavour combinations include everything from chocolate and peanut butter to rose and pistachio and lemon, topped with a mini meringue.
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