Victoria Bitter Original Ale

Brewed by Carlton & United Breweries (CUB)
Style: Bitter
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Didn’t really know what to expect from this, possibly an improved or premium VB,. what I found was more a new product all together. Pours a nice clear copper, with a small white head. Aroma is clean and a little hoppy. The palate is simple but solid, with some basic malts and some POR in there too. I actually enjoyed drinking this (as opposed to most CUB beers), and would put it not too far off coopers pale in terms of drinkability.

Nose has a strong, hoppy character. Colour is pale amber. Flavour is well-formed but a bit uninspired (perhaps signifying the macro origin). Nevertheless a pleasant tributary ale.

Was shocked to see this at the local... what was it? Looked suprisingly good once poured and pretty innocuous to taste. A vast improvement on the standard VB. Nevertheless, pretty dull overall... but outstanding by the usual standards of CUB.

Reddish amber, decent head, no lace. Little aroma, but palate is nicely balanced with some mild hoppiness and a decent bitter finish. A fine effort by a macro brewer to deliver something with a hint of character.

A very basic beer with a very limited malt profile. Strong lingering bitterness is pretty nasty. No hop aroma really. Not very impressive.

Tasted 06/08/2005. Retro stubbie from BrewNZ. The reddish-copper colour of his beer is ok... everything else is so bad that it ended up down the drain after two sips anda gulp. The head looks like a soft drink’s injected CO2, which it no doubt is. The mild "beer" aroma of caramel and nasty aussie hops is very antipodean. Flavour is apples and metallic with some, but only a little, harsh bitterness. Body is lightweight and bubbly. It smelt and looked like a typical brown beer from this side of the world - but it tasted even worse. They could market it as an award winner with the "Campaign for Fake Ale".

I was half-tempted to sample this side by side with the standard VB. But you can spot the flaw with that idea: you’d have to drink two VBs. They’ve done a nice job with the retro bottle, complete with references to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The beer pours a pale brown with a typical CUB vanishing head. I desperately wanted the aroma to have some character but the best I can come up with is that it has a whisper more malt than the standard CUB beer. The real surprise is the taste. Unless I’m very much mistaken, this is not too bad. Compared to the standard VB, this is a hop monster (ie, you can tell this has had some contact with hops). The malts seem to be of a higher standard than usual. This has a nutty quality that is very untypical of the brewer. And it’s not over-carbonated. I won’t rush to find more of this but it is much better than VB. Credit to CUB for the experiment.

Saw this number in Hobart while on a bender weekend with the boys. Impressive looking bottle, but really, just another advertising gimmick from CUB. I paid $5.50 for a bottle at the Republic Bar in North Hobart. Wasn’t offensive, but had a metallic flavour. Low on carbonation, which is something of a first from CUB. Tried another at the airport before my flight back to Melbourne and it went down marginally better. Not something I’d drink often if ever again, but not the worst brew CUB has dished up. RE-RATE: tried this on tap at the Transport Bar in Melbourne. I thought they were only going to sell it in the packaged form and not distribute it in bottle shops or have it on draught in pubs? Anyway this beer disappionted. Maybe it was the warm sunny Friday arvo before Xmas that required a lighter, crisper beer. I would imagine VB Original would be more of a cooler weather lager.