Victoria Bitter

Victoria Bitter

375 ml (13.20 imp fl oz; 12.68 US fl oz) stubby bottle, 4.9% ABV
Manufacturer	Carlton & United Beverages (Foster's Group)
Introduced	1854
Alcohol by volume	4.9%
Style	Lager
Website	victoriabitter.com.au

Victoria Bitter (VB) is a lager produced by Carlton & United Breweries, a subsidiary of Foster's Group in Melbourne, Victoria. It was first brewed by Thomas Aitken at Victoria Brewery in 1854. It is one of the highest selling beers in Australia.

The origins of Victoria Bitter date back to Victoria Brewery founder and head brewer Thomas Aitken, who developed the recipe in 1854. The beer began to gain wide popularity in the mid 1960s with an innovative television advertising campaign featuring a very similar recording of the theme from the film The Magnificent Seven, images of working-class Australians at work and play, and a voice-over by notable Australian actor John Meillon. The campaign was used until quite recently.

Like most Australian Lagers, VB is made using a wortstream brewing process, and uses a portion of cane sugar to thin out the body of the beer.

Currently one third of the packaged beer sales in Australia are of VB. It is available in 375 mL cans ("tinnies"), short-necked 375 mL bottles ("stubbies"), 750 mL bottles ("Long Necks", "King Browns" or "Tallies") and "Twisties", "Throwies" (slang for "Throwdowns", because they are generally consumed within a short period of time) or "Grenades" (250 ml bottles). As of 2005 VB also comes in 500 ml tinnies ("Lunch Greens"), which are commonly drunk by trade workers on lunch, being just enough to quench their thirst. It used to be available in the Northern Territory in a 1-litre tinnie nicknamed a 'Killer can' (Kilo can). As with all packaged beer sold in Australia it was for many years only available in 750 mL or 26 2/3 fl oz (1/6 imperial gallon) bottles, until the introduction of "stubbies" and smaller cans.

In July 2007 Foster's announced it would cut the alcohol content of VB from 4.9% to 4.8% in a bid to save millions of dollars in tax payments. The brewer cut the alcohol percentage of VB further in 2009, reducing it to 4.6% in an effort to make further savings. On 3 September 2012, CUB announced VB would be going back to its original 4.9% alcohol recipe and its original packaging. CUB had received many complaints since it was changed to 4.6% in 2009, and the beer had lost a large amount of market share. The updated VBs began rolling out in late October 2012.

In 2016, VB was among the CUB products boycotted by unions after 55 CUB workers were allegedly sacked after refusing a 65% wage cut. The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union has said that they will not stop the boycott until the situation is rectified.