Melbourne Bitter

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

Serve in Dimpled mug, English pint, Lager glass, Shaker

Bottle. I had this from the fridge on my Uncle Don’s back porch in Westleigh. Those of you saying that this is better than VB are smoking gumtree leaves. I t seems that the brewers decided to get rid of its bad corn taste by dumping extra worthless no-taste hops into the boil and boiling for 6 hours to lose any flavor at all. This is poor. Not a good beer at all. Pale yellow color, nose of garbage, no head, carbonated like hell to kill the palate. For my U.S. brethren this should be called Old Australia or Australia’s Best. Definitely the "Beast" down under!

Ho hum, another CUB product. We get feed some crap in this country. Looks and smells like its 3 brothers - clear light amber in the glass and a faintly sweet, slightly stale nose. Tastes and finishes quite dry and a bit hard. Allovate (see below) summed it up well, and I agree, a bit better than VB.

UPDATED: JUL 10, 2005 Sadly, this is what Australian lagers have tasted like for decades. In fact, this is so beer like, it smells of a front bar a couple of hours after the patrons have left, and tastes like it was wringed from the bar mat. Pours a clear gold with an artificial fluff of white foam. Dank, tinny aroma. Harsh bitter hops on the tongue, metallic and slowly rusting, light bodied and superbly Australian in flavour (my family are Anglo-Geelong in heritage, anyone Victorian would laugh or cry!), finishes off crisp and not all too forgettable with a little rusted ’Kingswood’ in the swallow. Still more sessionable than a glass of VB.

Dark Golden in colouring with a thick cloudy decent sized head which lasts a long time. Bitter, chemically, fruity type of aroma. Very bitter and chemically in taste. Although a beer good enough to consume on after a long hot day at work.

A present from Australia. Nice present, bad beer.

If you’re after a cold beer on a warm day, this is a vastly better choice than VB. Still chemically up front but lacks the nasty metallic aftertaste of VB. Goes down easy with mates or in front of the TV watching the cricket.

Yeah it sucks, but you get more respect at the pub drinking this than possibly any other beer. Less sweet and more bitter than its stablemates, but obviously they are all tarred with a very similar brush.