Victoria Pale Lager

[pk.sax]

Good un B. I have a sack of brewery bound pale malt too, although, these guys actually churn out pretty good pilsners from them. It shall be tried when I run out of pils malt.

I never found anything wrong with the crispness of carlton draught, preferred it to VB. Just the rest of the ugly taste in them. This VPL is totally clean from that perspective.

 

[Wimmig]

But Fat Yak is everywhere and Alpha isn't. It's hard to say really isn't it? How do they work this stuff out?

Regarding this VPL, it really does seem to buck the trend of megaswill getting megaswillier and even megaswill owned craft breweries getting megaswillier as time goes on! I think it's a good thing. I know it's all marketing but it's good to see them leverage a defined megaswill brand and take it the OTHER way. Rather than making the newest low carb or mid strength version of VB.

FYI,

Not all venues can stock / order alpha pale ale. You often need to get the order capability "unlocked" from the craft beer team. They don't want it in all venues. As with the rest of the brewers reserve range, they want to keep some exclusivity for them.

Anybody can order fat yak by the pallet.

 

[nuggetron]

working in woolies liquor i got a free sample last night
not that great
not a huge beer drinker, and i like my few beers and thats about it, but in saying that vb gold isnt too bad, but pale lager just not my thing

 

[mrTbeer]

After a slight derail with thoughts on alpha v fat yak...
I tried the vpl on weekend on a camping trip. It's good beer and it's only crime is being inoffensive. It's very session able but I just had a few despite having an esky full.People assume the bottle shape is vb and turn their nose up but when they see a green bottle and lack of a label they ask questions. The power of marketing is strong.
Still good to see a shift away from lo carb beers and adjuncts.

 

[jimmyjack]

Word on the street is that this new beer is basically VB Raw jazzed up a little. Amazing what a name and bottle change can do. It didnt entice me then and it wont entice me now

 

[danbeer]

Well, I bit the bullet and tried one this afternoon...

When it was cold, it wasn't bad. Sort of like a weak pilsner on training wheels.

When it warmed up a little more however, the POR came to the fore making it the slightest bit unpleasant. (Not at all a fan of the taste of POR)

Wouldn't go out of my way to buy it again, but if it was all there was to drink I wouldn't knock it back...

 

[the_new_darren]

Is another of those claims where Crown lager tastes better that Fosters export?

Surely its the same thing (ie VB)

tnd

 

[nzefactor]

Saw this at the local woolies bottle-o for $12 a sixer on the weekend and grabbed a pack.

Agree with the sentiment from previous posts. I thought it was pretty 'pure blonde'-ish in regards to the flavour.
Wasn't surprised when I found out it's a low carb beer.

 

[Wimmig]

After trying a few from the samples it was alright. Good and cold it was pilsnerISH enough to go down at say a BBQ. I wouldn't be looking for anything more from it though.

 

[BjornJ]

I tried this at mate's place yesterday, watching him and another friend brew a barley wine.
It was 35 degrees and we were sitting under a tin roof in the sun.
Next to a boiling 50 litre pot.

the VP went down nicely.


Wouldn't mind drinking it again,
Bjorn

 

[Charst]

Just finished one and Thought it not a bad drop for CUB. Nice Aroma, no real malt flavour but not thin and watery.
Id probably buy this over nearly everything else they make, except the stout.

 

[DUANNE]

theres still way to many good beers to try before i waste time drinking crap like this.

 

[boingk]

Tried it over the weekend while I was working in the shed... they went down a treat and 6-pack disappeared pretty quickly between myself and my brother. I'd say its a pretty decent summer-type lager and pretty sessionable. As other posters have mentioned its reasonably mild so don't expect a massive hop hit, but what is there is enjoyable so long as you don't mind PoR in combo with some Saaz.

I've found my summer quaffer non-HB beer, thats for sure.

Cheers - boingk

 

[esssee]

When Heineken find out they have stolen their recipe, they're gunna be pissed.

Went to the Cold Chisel Day on the Green on the weekend. All they had was Boags Draught and Heineken. Stuck to Heineken all night. Not spectacular, but not shit. (Concert was amazing, by the way.)

Just tasted a Victoria Pale Lager. It's the same thing. If it wasn't for the fact that CUB don't brew Heineken in Australia, I'd say they just put new bottles on the Heineken line.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Which seems to confirm that BUL beers do contain some POR in them.

Goomba

 

[MarkBastard]

Which seems to confirm that BUL beers do contain some POR in them.

Goomba

Do breweries actually still use POR? I thought they'd moved on to Super Pride?

 

[mje1980]

I just grabbed a kilo of super pride. So far so good, though i only use for bittering. I might be tempted to do a smash MOSP ale haha

 

[brettprevans]

all you shite brewers who dont know how to use POR to make great beers,. shame shame shame.

not that id buy that 'seasonal' crap but i brew with POR. Smurto and I make a killr POR ale (I just play around with his original recipe).

also you guys seem to forget they need to make money and thus cash in on an exsisting market

 

[kymba]

found that it tasted similar malt wise to the james squire 150 lashes pale ale. i.e., shit. can't taste hops in either of them

however, i would reach for this VB pale before the 150

 

[manticle]

Trying it now.

Smells like saaz hops.

Mine's been allowed to warm up a bit. Definitely less revolting than VB a bit warmer. Clean beer but very lacking in any kind of body or maltiness. Surprisingly, for an all malt beer, it has less body and flavour than some adjunct laden beers. I just drank a Melbourne before that (with my $1.00 pot noodle - yes I have days like this) and the melbourne had a bigger flavour punch.

Feels strange to review something like this but that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes. Clean, fairly tasteless beer flavoured mineral water with a saaz smell.

Not sure if it will be a hit with anyone - if I were a vb drinker I'd prefer 375 mL of VB to 330 mL of this, if I were vb drinker's lady, I'd probably either drink cruisers or strongbow over it and if I were a premium/imported BUL kind of guy, I'd drink asahi or peroni. Not sure which of the market's it's going for but I don't think it quite gets there.

As none of those, I'll stick to Pilsner urquell and trumer (and the ocassional Melbourne) for the summery cold beer at a barbecue majigga.