Aldi is set to introduce 18 UK-brewed craft beers in its English and Welsh stores from 29 May. The German discount retailer hopes to capitalise on the May bank holiday weekend.

The beers will be priced at £1.25 (€1.65, $1.83) each and will be offered as a "Specialbuy" purchase, meaning the supermarket has purchased only a limited stock of the beers.

The move comes amid the increasing demand for specialist beers in the country. According to Aldi, the craft beer industry is currently worth about £420m and is expected to touch £1bn by 2020.

aldi supermarket
Apart from Aldi, UK supermarket chains Asda and Waitrose too are offering craft beers to its customers Reuters
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Aldi is said to have spent £600,000 and about two years on sourcing the beers from 15 UK-based breweries. The brews sourced include:

1Wet Your Whistle (Box Steam brewery)
2Golden Bolt (Box Steam)
3Wadworth 6X (Wadworth)
4Two Tribes (Everards)
5Hop Bomb (Sadler's)
6Mellow Yellow (Sadler's)
7Wizard Amber (Robinsons )
8Maple Gold (Joseph Holt)
9White Witch (Moorhouses)
10Mid-Atlantic (Titanic)
11Velo Pale Ale (Black Sheep)
12Reverend James Rye (SA Brain)
13Surrey Nirvana (Hogsback)
14Castle (Arundel)
15Double Dragon (Felinfoel)
16A-Hop-alypse Now (Camerons)
17Strongarm (Camerons)
18Unicorn (Robinsons)

The supermarket chain said the brews were "carefully selected to celebrate provenance, artisan brewing and the exceptional beer produced across the UK". Tony Baines, Aldi's joint managing director of corporate buying, said: "We're delighted to be supporting the growth of some of the most distinguished regional breweries and microbreweries across the country and cannot wait to offer their signature ales to Aldi shoppers across the UK."

Apart from Aldi, UK supermarket chains Asda and Waitrose are focusing on selling craft beers to its customers. While Asda announced an £850,000 deal with 13 breweries in April to enable putting 25 new craft beers on its Scottish shelves, Waitrose has already started selling 49 new craft beers across its seven Scottish stores from May.