http://www.stuff.co.nz/search/4044858a7773.html

CANBERRA: Australians, long regarded as a nation of beer drinkers rivalled only by the Germans, seem to be turning soft, or sober.


After 113 years, the country's biggest selling beer, Victoria Bitter, or VB, is to be produced in a mid-strength version to keep pace with the country's fast-changing beer tastes.

VB, with its distinctive green label, has since 1894 been a staple of hard-drinking backyard barbecues, student revels and football games, not to mention healthy overseas exports.

Now brewer Foster's has decided for the first time to produce the beer in a weaker yellow-label version with 3.5 per cent strength, down from 5 per cent, as Australians abandon it for scores of more upscale "boutique" or craft beers.

"The change has been dramatic. The drinking habits of Australians have been changing over time and what we have found is that the markets in growth are the premium and mid-strength markets," Foster's Brand Manager Felicity Watson told Reuters.

Mid-strength and boutique beers are the new darlings of Australia's $A5.5 billion beer industry, with 12 per cent annual growth against flat sales for mainstream beers.

New boutique breweries including Cascade, Boag's and James Squire have won huge followings in most city pubs, while so-called microbreweries such as Little Creatures, Mountain Goat and Blue Tongue have lured drinkers away from VB in droves.

"There is just a lot more choice and consumers are no longer attached to just one or two brands," Watson said. "They will have a different brand for different occasions, if you're out with a group of friends and you want to impress."

In April, boutique breweries in the state of Western Australia demanded the government provide them with tax breaks enjoyed by the country's global wine industry to help them grow further.

Hundreds of craft breweries are opening and aiming to rival small European makers, turning Australians away from traditional lagers and on to more complex beer styles.

Watson said the new yellow VB would be backed by a $A35 million advertising campaign.

"We think the competition is a positive thing to be honest, because what it means is there's a lot of interest in beer," she said.

i can tell you right now that this venture will fail. your typical VB drinker isn't interested in anything but a heavy.

The green VB isn't being discontinued though, right? What's the big deal with choice? (BTW, I've had plenty of good memories with VB. )

Also, you Kiwis had a nice diversity of brews, moreso than Australia. I quite enjoyed the Monteith brand over there.

I fucking lurve VB. 375mls? You little beauty.

See I would think that, but I refuse to believe they haven't done their market research and can't see them rushing into this on a whim. Can you just accept your glorious VB is going soft, and you 'boutiquey' Melbournians will lap it up like mother's milk.

GH, god bless you for mentioning Monteiths. I don't wanna derail the thread too much, but Monteiths is a magnificent line of beer.

Pilsner, Summer and Gold are brilliant beers by Monteiths.

I think I enjoyed the Saison flavor the most, but I could be completely off base since it's been five years since I enjoyed it. If you know a way for us Yanks to get some of this brand, let me know.

Summer is just un-fucking-believeable. Man I miss that stuff, they should have it all year round. Winter sucks.

I just don't picture VB as a mid-strength beer. To me, it's always gonna be the beer that knocked me on my ass as a 17-year-old trying to show off in Melbourne, not a beer I had two of so I could drive home.

no 'boutiquey' melbournian would drink VB in the first place.

i was a big fan of the Tooheys Old during my time in Oz.

So wait, because consumers are choosing to drink more craft and microbrews, they have decided to make a watered down version of their beer to compete??? I can't imagine how this could possibly be enticing to anybody. People switch to craft brews because they are tired of the macrobrew...there is nothing that the manufacturer can do that will change that.

One a somewhat related note, anybody who chooses to drink a beer with less than a 4.5% alcohol content is a fucking pussy and should just switch to white wine spritzers and book their sexual reassignment surgery ASAP.

Oh yes, this was a good one as well.

you saved me typing

Boonie would so disappointed

I approve of this statement.

Yup... good stuff.


VB's alright for a macrobrew, but it's really not all that shit hot.

It's usually pretty good on price.

I wouldn't know, I've gone all nuts for Hoegaarden, or any wheat beer for that matter.

ummmm vb is shit