Thirsty Boy
ICB - tight shorts and poor attitude. **** yeah!
- Joined
- 21/5/06
- Messages
- 4,544
- Reaction score
- 106
Out of sheer curiosity, the wife and I, just this evening tried VB vs VB Gold in a blind triangle taste test.
Result -
The wife, who has a much better pallet than me picked it in 2 of 3 flights over an hour, but struggled to make her decisions.
I only managed to pick it out 1 in 3 flights.
So at least as far as my pallet is concerned, if it was a choice between VB and VB gold, then the decision would be about cost and whether I was driving or not. Taste difference is insignificant to none.
Of course, Fosters isn't really trying to convince anyone to drink VB gold instead of VB. That would be insane, they want you to drink VB gold instead of XXXX gold.
This move actually fits quite well with Foster's recent strategy of consolidating their brands into "families" you have the Carlton Family with Draught, Cold, Mistrength, Black, Sterling etc... The Crown Family with Crown Lager, Crown Pilsner & Crown Gold, the Fosters family, Cascade etc etc. So its consistant to extend that to a "VB family" and include a Mid beer in there along with VB and VB Original Ale. Obviously they have latched onto the nomenclature of "Gold" as equating to Midstrength.
So you could look at it as a semi hysterical move to prop up flagging VB sales... but when the brand is still 30%+ of packaged beer sales in the country, it does seem more likely to be a measured strategic response to the increase in the Midstrength market sector.
And yes, I am affiliated. But I'm not exactly in the know. I found out about the launch of the product on the day it hit the papers. This is jut my personal opinion.
Anyway, aside from engaging in a little lighthearted debunking of some of the slighty obsessed theories about the motivations of the big brewers (seriously, its not a conspiracy guys, they just want to make a lot of money...) I really couldn't care less about either of these products.
Todays experiment was the first time in years that I have parted with my hard earned for a VB and it is extremely unlikely that either it or its golden hued stablemate will be taking up valuable realestate in my fridge again any time soon.
Of course, out of company loyalty, I urge you all to go out and buy MANY slabs of both beers... plus; I could do with a little overtime
Thirsty
Result -
The wife, who has a much better pallet than me picked it in 2 of 3 flights over an hour, but struggled to make her decisions.
I only managed to pick it out 1 in 3 flights.
So at least as far as my pallet is concerned, if it was a choice between VB and VB gold, then the decision would be about cost and whether I was driving or not. Taste difference is insignificant to none.
Of course, Fosters isn't really trying to convince anyone to drink VB gold instead of VB. That would be insane, they want you to drink VB gold instead of XXXX gold.
This move actually fits quite well with Foster's recent strategy of consolidating their brands into "families" you have the Carlton Family with Draught, Cold, Mistrength, Black, Sterling etc... The Crown Family with Crown Lager, Crown Pilsner & Crown Gold, the Fosters family, Cascade etc etc. So its consistant to extend that to a "VB family" and include a Mid beer in there along with VB and VB Original Ale. Obviously they have latched onto the nomenclature of "Gold" as equating to Midstrength.
So you could look at it as a semi hysterical move to prop up flagging VB sales... but when the brand is still 30%+ of packaged beer sales in the country, it does seem more likely to be a measured strategic response to the increase in the Midstrength market sector.
And yes, I am affiliated. But I'm not exactly in the know. I found out about the launch of the product on the day it hit the papers. This is jut my personal opinion.
Anyway, aside from engaging in a little lighthearted debunking of some of the slighty obsessed theories about the motivations of the big brewers (seriously, its not a conspiracy guys, they just want to make a lot of money...) I really couldn't care less about either of these products.
Todays experiment was the first time in years that I have parted with my hard earned for a VB and it is extremely unlikely that either it or its golden hued stablemate will be taking up valuable realestate in my fridge again any time soon.
Of course, out of company loyalty, I urge you all to go out and buy MANY slabs of both beers... plus; I could do with a little overtime
Thirsty
