Beer Challenge: Victoria Bitter

Nothing better than crushing an empty can

Since writing these blogs I have attracted a lot of attention from fellow beer lovers who recommend me to drink and write about their favourites. One person offered to shout me a night of drinking under the condition it was a beer that they knew I didn’t like very much.

By taking them up on their offer I have created a new way to cover my blog.

Let me present to you Beer Challenge #1: VB

VB comes in many shapes and sizes

I would like to thank my mate Troy for making this possible.

VB is an Australian icon

Firstly, I have had VB (Victoria Bitter) many times before, it is widely available and popular, one of Australia’s most popular beers.

A funny/ interesting thing about the beer is the initials, VB which people have used to make many comedic references to the beer. The most popular ones I've heard are: Vomit Bombs, Very Bad, Vaginal Backwash, and even Very Best.

It just isn’t one that places highly on my drinking list. Not for any real reason though, other than I don’t know many that drink it (in Tasmania).

THE CHALLENGE

What we faced at the beginning of the night

What happened: A block of 30 cans were provided for the purpose of the challenge, to have a controlled environment the beers were chilled and no other alcohol was consumed prior to the challenge.

“You have to drink VB cold and fast!” - a seasoned VB drinker.

With this comment in mind I cracked my first can with the aim to get it down as fast as possible.

Once the first was gone I got straight onto the second, they got better the more I drank, the challenge went well into the night.

We left a few afterwards...

How many did we drink?

I didn’t check the final count but between us we drank at least half of the block, not a bad effort but there is always room for improvement.

Lessons learned:

The next morning I checked my hands and feet to see if any extra appendages grew overnight, apart from the usual Tasmanian anomalies everything seemed fine. It turns out that VB is a good session drinking beer, my only concern was the throbbing headache for the whole day afterwards.

VB puts you to sleep...

If you have a favourite beer you want to prove to me makes the cut send me an invite!

Cheers,

Dave 

They like to brag, haha

Otaru Beer

Always fun times here at Otaru Beer

Prost – the German drinking word for cheers!

This is a handy phrase to know if you visit one of my favourite drinking establishments, Otaru Beer.

If you visit Japan I highly recommended you visit Hokkaido, the Tasmania of Japan and when there visit a small city called Otaru. 

When you arrive at the train station walk down to the canal and go 

right where you will find an old warehouse/ factory type building which has been converted into a German microbrewery.

Otaru Beer is one of the buildings on the right

I was fortunate enough to live in the Japanese city for two years and spent a lot of my down time at Otaru Beer, enjoying quality German beer.

They are brewing the beer right before your eyes

In addition to the three main lines of beer, Pilsner, Dunkel and Weiss, there is a seasonal beer which can range from a smokey bacon type to a rich dark beer for winter.

The three main beers in stubbies

The friendly Japanese staff are dressed as Germans and the building looks like you have stepped into a portal to beerfest in Germany.

The Beermaster himself!

The German beer master Johannes Braun brought beer vats from his small town in Germany and started up his business in the city that thrives on tourism.

They also have an awesome gift shop!

While you are there drinking they have a restaurant open all day every day serving popular German dishes from ham on the bone, German Pizza, sausage platters and steak and roast dishes.

Did I mention the massive pretzels?

Even though you can drink the beers in a range of glasses from a standard mug of about 10 ounces you can also have 1 litre steins and for the veteran beer drinker the 2 litre boot!!!

My favourite day of the month was the second Wednesday of the month, this is Beerclub at Otaru Beer from 6:30pm to 11:00pm where you pay 1,800 yen (about $20) and drink any item on the drink menu in your choice of glass size for the four and a half hours.

During Oktoberfest (which is actually in September I’ve learned) a German band come and perform each night for a week, drink and socialise with the guests.

I’ve been at this place and every seat downstairs and upstairs is being used, it is the place to be in Otaru.

The place to be

Thanks for reading another beer post,

Prost!

Dave