AUSTRALIA'S favourite beer is about to become lighter.
The alcohol content of Victoria Bitter will be cut by 0.2 percentage points to 4.6 per cent next month.
The price will stay the same, but the reduced alcohol content could save brewer Foster's tens of millions of dollars a year in beer tax.
VB spokesman Paul Donaldson said it was the only way the brewery could avoid raising the price.
"This is all about making
VB better value so that when every other beer goes up in price this August,
VB won't be," he said.
"The drought has started to really impact brewing. We've had ingredient costs go up 20 per cent.
"I think we buy 30 million kilograms of barley a year from Australian farmers so this is one way that we can keep the costs under control and keep the beer good value."
The change will come into effect on August 1 and applies to all full-strength
VB products including stubbies, cans, long necks and on tap.
Punters were not fussed by the change.
Ben Ilett, 24, of Newport, said even a price rise wouldn't stop
VB drinkers from buying their favourite beer.
"People who drink
VB are diehard
VB drinkers," he said.
Lauren Thermos, 21, of Carlton, said reduced strength beer was a good idea.
"If
VB was my beer of choice I'd rather a cheaper price with a bit less alcohol," she said.
Malcolm Pfrunder, 47, of Brisbane, said only die-hard full-strength beer drinkers would switch off
VB.
"If the taste stayed the same and I drank
VB it wouldn't change my buying patterns," he said.
Brian Donnelly, 20, of St Kilda, doubted drinkers would notice the change.
"People aren't going to notice if it's a 0.2 per cent drop," he said.
Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre said the change would not reduce beer sales.
One in four beers consumed across Australia is a
VB.
The alcohol content was cut by 0.1 per cent two years ago.
The latest cut means the original 4.9 per cent full strength beer created about 50 years ago is now 0.3 per cent lighter.