VB

Another Australian Beer Icon

Victoria Bitter, also known simply as VB is an iconic Australian beer regardless of what you have heard. I will admit that during my introduction into the beer drinking culture I was encouraged to think that you only drank VB if it was the only beer available.

“A hard earned thirst needs a big old beer. And the best cold beer is Victoria Bitter.” http://www.victoriabitter.com.au/the-brew

VB and its synonymous green label on its stubbies and cans can be found anywhere in Australia and in many places overseas, virtually every bar that I can think of also has it on tap.

A very unique stubby shape

A real Australian product, it is made with Australian pale malt, special yeast and Pride of Ringwood Hops (VIC, TAS), made to have lots of flavour as a lager, not a bitter as the name suggests.

People that do like it tell me you have to drink it very cold and in large quantities to get the best experience out of it.

Something that I find entertaining about it (and I feel that I have spoken about this before in a previous blog) is the acronyms people use with the letters VB, popular ones are Vomit Bombs, Very Bad, Vitamin B, Victorian Bullshit and even Vaginal backwash.

Bear Grylls is joking of course!

There is a funny dictionary definition on this link http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=VB

In the 2000’s the brains behind VB had an ingenious plan to save money, lower the alcohol content by changing the recipe so they pay less tax (Boag’s decided that this was also a good idea). The result was something fixed that wasn’t really broken in the first place, the after effects down here in Tasmania was utter disgust as people who have been drinking the same thing for many many years were suddenly forced to settle for something different and weaker, many went to different brews in protest.

Since 2012, VB has returned to its original strength of 4.9% reinstating hope with what supporters remained. In my opinion it never recovered, from discussions with serious VB drinkers, many now drink something else (mostly XXXX Gold), the image was tarnished when money took over the importance of the product.

Regardless, it is an Australian icon whether we like it or not and I recommend you try a Vomit Bomb at least once in your life.

Cheers,

Dave