Miller Brewing

Encyclopedia : M : MI : MIL : Miller Brewing

|- |Location |Milwaukee, Wisconsin
United States

|- |Year opened |1855

|- style="font-size: 90%;" |Miller High Life |Pale lager

|- style="font-size: 90%;" |Miller Lite |Light beer

|- style="font-size: 90%;" |Milwaukee's Best |Pale lager

|- |align=center colspan=2| |} Miller Brewing is a large American beermaker based in Milwaukee. It was founded in 1855 by Frederick Miller when he purchased the small Plank-Road Brewery. The brewery's location in the Miller Valley provided easy access to raw materials produced on nearby farms. It also has a brewery in St. Clair Township, Butler County, Ohio.

It was acquired by South African Breweries from Philip Morris (now Altria) on May 30, 2002, to form SABMiller for $3.6 billion worth of stock and $2 billion in debt, with Philip Morris retaining a 36% share, with voting rights of 24.99%.

Miller Brewing owns breweries in Albany, Georgia; Eden, North Carolina; Fort Worth, Texas; Irwindale, California; Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Trenton, Ohio.

In July 2006, Miller announced it was purchasing the Sparks and Steel Reserve brands with the purchase of the two brands from McKenzie River Corp. for $215 million cash. Miller had been producing both products prior to this purchase.[link]

Contents

1 Current brands

1.1 Miller family
1.2 Hamm's Family
1.3 Plankroad Brewery Family
1.4 Leinenkugel's Family
1.5 Special Beer
1.6 Malt liquors
1.7 Milwaukee's Best family
1.8 Rainier Beer
1.9 Henry Weinhard's family
1.10 International family

2 Former brands
3 Corporate diversity
4 See also
5 External links

Current brands

Miller family

Miller Lite - See the article at Miller Lite.
Miller Lite Ice - A limited distribution ice beer valued for low bitterness and low hangover frequency, as well as for the naturally higher ABV content of an ice beer. In this form it is now only found in select markets in Michigan and perhaps other states, but reports are also that it is now rebranded as one of the Icehouse beers.
Miller Genuine Draft - Miller Genuine Draft was introduced in 1986 as the original cold filtered packaged draft beer, which means that the beer is not heat pasteurized. Miller uses an exclusive cold-filtered process that prevents some of the beer's flavor from being heated away. MGD received the gold medal in the American-style Premium Lager category at the 1999 World Beer Cup. It also received the silver medal at the 2003 American Beer Festival. It was originally introduced as "Miller High Life Genuine Draft", but the "High Life" part of the name was soon dropped. MGD is actually the same beer (before packaging) as Miller High Life, but High Life is heat pasteurized after packaging and MGD is filtered before packaging. It was developed to give High Life drinkers the same taste in a can or bottle as they found in non-pasteurized kegs.
Miller Genuine Draft Light
Miller High Life - This beer was put on the market in 1903 and is Miller Brewing's oldest brand. Miller High Life can be considered the forerunner of the modern American lager beers. High Life is grouped under the pilsner category of beers, although it has slightly less alcohol than European pilsners. The prevailing slogan on current packaging is "The Champagne of Beers", due to its light and fizzy composition seem to suggest. After languishing as a blue collar economy beer for decades, High Life is repositioning itself as a mainstream beer and going after a younger, more sophisticated drinker. Current marketing the beer with the tagline, "Savor The High Life". Except for a brief period in the 1990s, High Life bottles have always been quite distinctive, as they have a bright gold label and are made of a clear glass that has a tapered neck like a champagne bottle. High Life has brought back its "Girl in the Moon" logo, which features by today's standards a modestly dressed young lady that by legend is company founder Frederick Miller's granddaughter. In addition to the 12oz bottle configurations (6, 12, 18, 24, and 30 packs), it is also available in single serve 22oz, 32oz, and 40oz bottles. A recent surge in popularity is making the 7.5oz "pony" bottle 8 packs more and more available. It can also be found in cans in 12oz, as well as 16 and 24 ounce "tall boyz". High Life beat out 17 other contestants to take home the gold medal in "American-style Lagers" at the 2002 World Beer Cup. It is commonly called "Miller Low Life" by its detractors.
Miller High Life Light
Miller 1855 Celebration Lager - The 1855 Celebration Lager was released in November 2005 to recognize the 150th anniversary of Miller Brewing. It is only available for a limited time.
Sharp's - Miller's non-alcoholic beer

Hamm's Family

Miller have bought up the rights to the Hamm's Brewery brands.

Hamm's Beer
Hamm's Golden Draft
Hamm's Special Light

Plankroad Brewery Family

Icehouse 5.0
Icehouse 5.5 - Icehouse is an ice lager and was the winner of the 2003 Gold Medal for American-Style Specialty Lager at the Great American Beer Festival, and also won the American-Style Ice Lager Gold Cup of the 1996 and 1998 World Beer Cup competitions.
Red Dog - Although popular during the mid to late 1990s, Red Dog faded into near-obscurity after the turn of the century. However, since 2005 it has been making a comeback of sorts, returning to stores and customers. It is marketed to a younger, mostly male demographic, with a high percentage of African-Americans.
Southpaw Light - Southpaw, the smallest of the beers from Plankroad Brewery, is popular in the Southeastern part of the US.

Leinenkugel's Family

The Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company, though owned by Miller, has a separate corporate structure, and brews its beers at their own breweries in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin and Milwaukee.

Leinenkugel's Original
Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss
Leinenkugel's Amber Light
Leinenkugel's Red Lager
Leinenkugel's Creamy Dark
Leinenkugel's Northwood's Lager
Leinenkugel's Light
Leinenkugel's Berry Weiss
Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest
Leinenkugel's Apple Spice
Leinenkugel's Big Butt Doppelbock
Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat

Special Beer

Schlitz

Malt liquors

Magnum Malt Liquor
Mickey's Fine Malt Liquor - A classic malt liquor still widely known for its unique barrell or grenade-shaped, wide mouthed bottle. Original packaging include Irish iconography with shamrocks, castle towers, and an arm holding a mace. Current packaging is more neutral, if still green, with an illustrated hornet icon on the cap. The wide mouthed bottles are also known for their pictographic riddles under the cap. Mickey's marketing targets a young, college-aged drinker, slightly left of mainstream and uses the current tagline, "Get Stung" always next to the hornet icon.
Mickey's Ice
Olde English 800 - One of the original malt liquors, first produced by the Peoples Brewing as, "Olde English 600". The original label pictured a tiny but jaunty Englishman wearing a plumed hat atop a white wig. A slogan in Latin, "Situr Duluth," which translates into "It is being thirsted for in Duluth." Riding the popularity of animal associations with malt liquors, Olde English marketing once had a tiger prominently featured. Olde English is now repositioning itself, using its classic appeal to differentiate itself from much of the rest of the malt liquor category. A more aspirational tone is clear with their current tagline, "Reign Supreme".
Olde English 800 7.5
Olde English High Gravity 800

Milwaukee's Best family

In 1855, George Schweickhart purchased the beginnings of a brewery in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, after both of its founders died of cholera and named it the Menomonee Brewing Co. In 1874, Schweickhart sold the brewery to C. Schuckerman who later sold to Adam Gettelman, who was married to Schweickhart's daughter. The brewery became the A. Gettelman Brewing Company in 1887. [link] After prohibition, the brewery continued until it was purchased by Miller in 1971. Well-known brands included Milwaukee's Best, Milwaukee Lager, $1000 Natural Process (named after Gettelman's cash offer to anyone who could prove his beer had ingredients other than malt and hops), Rathskeller Brew, 5 O'Clock, and University Club.

Milwaukee's Best - Miller Brewing is trying hard to shake this beer's nickname as "The Beast." Milwaukee's Best took a Bronze Medal in 2005 in the American-Style Lager category at the Great American Beer Festival. It has an alcohol content of 4.5%. Classic slogans that represent this beer are "Unleash the Beast" and "Classic Taste at its Best". A popular beer in the economy beer segment. It is known for having beer flavor for an affordable price. It is sometimes referred to as "Red Beast" due to the red color of its can.

Milwaukee's Best Ice - At 5.9% alcohol by volume, it is a "cheap-beer" alternative to malt liquors and other more expensive ice beers. It's relatively smooth and chills to a very cold temperature without freezing. "Beast Ice" as it is affectionately known as by its proponents has become a mainstay, particularly in the American Northwest, of binge drinking college students. Known to come as cheap as $10 for a 30 pack, this ice beer (with the slogan "Classic Taste at its Best") is suitable for any form of drinking game or merely casual sipping. Not to be enjoyed in singles, Best Ice is most often consumed in large quantities from either a keg or can. Also seen in 40 oz. bottles (or "40s"). When said 40 can not be finished in one sitting, it can be capped with a 2 liter plastic bottle top to preserve freshness. Milwaukee's Best Ice is considered one of the "Dank" beers which possesses the ability to hold its taste for more than one day after opening. Best Ice is generally not served in restaurants.

Milwaukee's Best Light - Popularly known as "Beast Light" this beer is marketed towards blue collar men, and tailgaters with the current slogan, Brewed For A Man's Taste. In addition to the 12 oz can configurations (12, 18, and 24 packs, as well as the can "Best Chest"), it is also frequently purchased in the utilitarian "six-pack tall-boy" format. It can also be found in 16 oz, 22oz and 32oz "Crusher" cans, and is said to be popular in the summertime in Texas and throughout the South. This brand serves as a sponsor of the World Series of Poker as the official beer. It is sometimes referred to as "Blue Beast" due to the blue color of its can.

Rainier Beer

Brewed by Miller, although the brand belongs to the Pabst Brewing Company.

Henry Weinhard's family

Miller bought Henry Weinhard's in 1999, and closed the landmark facilities in Portland, Oregon, and Olympia, Washington. The brands involved are:

Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve
Henry Weinhard's Blue Boar Pale Ale
Henry Weinhard's Hefeweizen
Henry Weinhard's Northwest Trail Blonde Lager
Henry Weinhard's Classic Dark Lager (Winter seasonal)
Henry Weinhard's Amber Light (Discontinued in October, 2005)

International family

Foster's Lager
Foster's Special Bitter
Peroni Nastro Azzurro
Pilsner Urquell
Sheaf Stout

Former brands

Miller Beer - A short-lived beer with a confusing name that was introduced in January 1996.
Miller Clear Beer - Test marketed in 1993. The beer's naturally amber color was eliminated through intensive filtration. Looked like 7-Up but had 4.6% alcohol by volume.
Vivo - Miller's version of 'near beer.' From 1920 to 1933 Miller Brewing survived prohibition by producing non-alcoholic and low alcohol beverages made from cereal grains.

Corporate diversity

Miller Brewing received a 100% rating on the Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign starting in 2004, the third year of the report.

External links

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