VB (beer) loses strength!!!!

**Tony** · 07-06-07, 11:56 PM

July 05, 2007

HARD-CORE drinkers are sobbing in their suds over Fosters' plans to cut the strength of VB. Bitter Victorians yesterday labelled Fosters' tax-saving move un-Australian and a betrayal of loyalty. In pubs and by email, they also barrelled a coming tax rise that will add 2 per cent to packaged VB.

"VB was one of those great certainties. Now some stupid corporate sod is going to ruin one of the last great Australian traditions," "Meanderer" emailed. "Its a dark and horrible day."

Fosters says the iconic brand will taste the same after its alcohol is cut from 4.9 to 4.8 per cent. Drinkers, though, sounded shattered.
"VB lowers alcohol content and Toyota Corolla out-sells Commodore. What is the world coming to?" Gav of the Gold Coast wrote.

"This is the most un-Australian thing that's ever happened. I'm gonna have to sell me ute to cope," Poita of Woodridge emailed.

VB marketing manager Ben Wicks wasn't surprised at the passion.
"VB's something they hold pretty close to their hearts," he said.
Mr Wicks said Fosters only got a handful of complaints, but the Herald Sun got hundreds of often-angry comments. Chris Canty, who runs the cheap beer website, thehappiesthour, got angry feedback too. He says the grim news caused his Talking Boonie to swear and storm out of the lounge.

"Sometimes it's the extra 0.1 per cent that can turn an ordinary night into one worth trying to remember," he complained.

In Richmond, Vine Hotel regular Peter Cosgrove, 59, said it was "just another take". "They take 0.1 per cent out and they don't put down the price. I think it stinks," he said. At North Melbourne's Central Club Hotel, drinker Lance Moore, 50, called it penny pinching.
"But what do you expect from a multi-million-dollar company. If they can get a buck . . ."
Some aggrieved drinkers were moved close to poetry.

"We have made great personal sacrifices to commit ourselves fully to VB," one wrote.
"Family, career, health have all gone by the wayside, but VB is not going to commit to us. This is the ultimate betrayal."

Alan Carson of Campbelltown put it patriotically. "VB is an institution and an Australia icon. It's what made the great David Boon get up in the morning. "It's what quenched the thirst of every Aussie battler who has ever sweated blood and tears for this great brown land of ours."
And Scott of Goldy got more dramatic, still. "That's it. I'm giving up the children for adoption, selling the car and moving to Belgium," he wrote.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...0-2862,00.html