Vitamalz vee-tuh muhldz
Miscellaneous
German malt-beer without alcohol.
Comes in brown 0,33l bottles. The logo shows six circles in decreasing size with a color gradient going from dark blue to red to white, featured on a yellow ground. .
The beer itself is of dark brown color. It almost looks like cola, though it develops a nice light brown foam
Ingredients
Contains Water, barley malt, glucose syrup, carbonic acid, Food Coloring E 150c and hop. Does not contain alcohol. According to the bottle, it should be consumed within one year of purchase. The website claims it has about as many calories as an orange juice.
The company recommends it for young people and pregnant woman because of its nutrition. Unfortunately, no information on said nutrition can be found, other than the fact that it contains several B-vitamins which support your metabolism and that it gives lots of energy to your body.
History
After the scientist Fritz Lux from Weihenstephan managed to retrieve Vitamin B1 from yeast cells in 1920, Ferdinand Glaab had the idea for a new kind of beer: Malt Beer.
It was not until 1931 however until it was actually produced, when the Seligenstadt brewery Glaabsbräu purchased the patented recipe from the VITALUX company. The new beer was called "VITAMALZ".
In 1966, the brand "VITAMALZ" was patented.
Since 1970, when the licenser Glaabsbräu F. Glaab & Co. founded together with other breweries the VITAMALZ Group, whereas each member works with the same recipe, 13 breweries have joined the production of this great product. VITAMALZ has been the leader on the german malt beer market since 1980, with hardly any commercials running for it. In 2000, Vitamalz started a campaign with a german offering Vitamalz to various Americans, who responded "Ah, Cola!", whereas he replied "Nix Cola, Vitamalz!". In those spots, they were all pleaseantly surprised by the taste. They stopped airing after running for about a year.
Vitamalz has been sponsering the "Vitamalz Cup" (a womens' bicycle tournament, which has evolved into the German National Championship, and a basketball competition called "Monsterdunks".
Recommendations
Vitamalz tastes best when it is cold. Like "coke at 3 degrees". Your normal fridge will do. To open the bottle you will need an old fashioned bottle opener, as the cap does not twist. Or you could use a cigarette lighter, as many Germans do, to lever it up. It is not quite as sweet and has more of a malty-beerish taste. The taste is still sweet and pleasant.
Vitamalz is also very refreshing and will take your thirst away in no time.
Vitamalz in the US
Vitamalz is hard to find in the USA, you might have to resort to a special importer. If you go to Germany, be sure to pick up a sixpack of bottles. There used to be Vitamalz cans, but since the German Government introduced an awkward cash back system for the cans that makes you pay a quarter extra for each can, with your only chance of getting it back being going back to the exact same store with a reciept, those are off the market. You still have to pay a quarter extra for the bottles, but those can be returned anywhere. You can also buy 0.5l bottles either as singles (around 80 cents per bottle) or in a 24 bottle box (you do the math).
Personally, I prefer it to a normal beer because of the taste. It does not taste like dark beer, its sweeter and smoother. While it does not taste like light beer or root beer either, the only thing it might be compared to is a bottle of Henry Weinhard's Root Beer - even though that does not get too close to it either.
Official website is www.vitamalz.de.