Miller Brewing Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Miller Brewing Company | |
|---|---|
| Location | Milwaukee, Wisconsin United States |
| Owner(s) | SABMiller |
| Year opened | 1855 |
| Active beers | |
| Miller Genuine Draft | Pale lager |
| Miller Genuine Draft Light | Light beer |
| Miller High Life | Pale lager |
| Miller High Life Light | Light beer |
| Miller Lite | Light beer |
| Milwaukee's Best | Pale lager |
| Milwaukee's Best Light | Light beer |
| Milwaukee's Best Ice | Pale lager |
| Miller Chill | Light beer |
| Icehouse | Lager |
| Mickey's | Malt Liquor |
| Olde English 800 | Malt Liquor |
Miller Brewing Company is the second largest American style beermaker and is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It is owned by SABMiller. Miller owns breweries in Albany, Georgia; Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin; Eden, North Carolina; Fort Worth, Texas; Irwindale, California; Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Trenton, Ohio. [1]
Contents |
[edit] History
Miller Brewing Company 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.
On September 19, 1966, the conglomerate W.R. Grace & Co. agreed to buy 53% of Miller from Mrs. Lorraine John Mulberger (Frederick Miller's granddaughter who objected to alcohol) and her family. On June 12, 1969 Philip Morris (now Altria) bought Miller from W.R. Grace for $130 million, outbidding PepsiCo. On May 30th, 2002, it was acquired by South African Breweries from Philip Morris for $3.6 billion worth of stock and $2 billion in debt, to form SABMiller; with Philip Morris retaining a 36% share at that time, with voting rights of 24.99%.
On August 14, 2006, Miller Brewing announced it had completed the purchase of Sparks and Steel Reserve brands from McKenzie River Corporation for $215 million cash. [2] Miller had been producing both products prior to this purchase.[1]
On October 9, 2007, SABMiller and Molson Coors agreed to combine their U.S. operations in a joint venture called Miller Coors. SABMiller is to own 58% of the unit, which is to operate in the U.S. and Puerto Rico but not Canada, where Molson Coors is strongest. Molson Coors is to own 42%, but the parties are to have equal voting power.[2]
[edit] Controversy
In 2007 Miller came under fire from the Catholic League for its sponsorship of the Folsom Street Fair, an adult-themed San Francisco street festival celebrating leather pride and BDSM.[3][4] [5][6]
[edit] Joint venture with Molson Coors Brewing Company
On October 9, 2007, SABMiller and Molson Coors Brewing Company announced a joint venture to be known as MillerCoors for their US operations that will market all of their products. [3]
[edit] Current brands
[edit] Miller family
- Miller Lite—Miller's brand of light beer.
- Miller Lite Ice—A limited distribution ice beer valued for low bitterness, as well as for the naturally higher ABV content (5.5%) of an ice beer. In this form it is now only found in select markets in Michigan and perhaps other states.
- Miller Genuine Draft—Miller Genuine Draft was introduced in 1985 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. The concept for Cold-filtered Miller Genuine Draft was developed by new product consultant Calle & Company. Martin Calle evolved the concept from Miller's New Ventures effort to launch a new dry beer at a time Miller Brewing was in danger of becoming a much-cloned Lite Beer manufacturer. Originally introduced as "Miller High Life Genuine Draft", the "High Life" part of the name was soon dropped. MGD is actually made from the same recipe as Miller High Life, with a different treatment. It was developed to give High Life drinkers the same taste in a can or bottle as they found in non-pasteurized kegs. It has 4.7% ABV.[7]
- Miller Gold—A limited edition version of Miller Genuine Draft containing 5.7% ABV
- Miller Genuine Draft Light—A version of the Miller Genuine Draft but with a 4.2% ABV, approximately 3/4 of the calories, and approximately half of the carbohydrates.
- Miller Genuine Draft 64—A lighter version of the regular Miller Genuine Draft Light with a 2.8% ABV. It only contains 64 calories. No other beer on the market has lower calories, although Becks Premier Light also has 64 calories. Miller launched this beer in the summer of 2007 in Madison, WI. It was received favorably and testing expanded to Arizona, San Diego and Sacramento. [8]
- Miller High Life—This beer was put on the market in 1903 and is Miller Brewing's oldest brand. High Life is grouped under the pilsner category of beers and is 4.7% ABV.[7] The prevailing slogan on current packaging is "The Champagne of Beers", an adaptation of its long standing slogan "The Champagne of Bottled Beers". Accordingly, this beer is noted for its high level of carbonation, making it a very bubble filled beverage like champagne. It was originally available in miniature champagne bottles and was one of the premier high end beers in the country for many years. 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. High Life beat out 17 other contestants to take home the gold medal in "American-style Lagers" at the 2002 World Beer Cup.
- Miller High Life Light—A version of the Miller High Life but approximately the same nutritional content as the Miller Genuine Draft Light. It has 4.2% ABV.[7]
- Miller 1855 Celebration Lager—The 1855 Celebration Lager was released in November 2005 to recognize the 150th anniversary of Miller Brewing. It was only available for a limited time.
- Miller—A short-lived recipe from 1996 to 1998, sold in a predominantly red can (hence, aka "Miller Red").
- Miller Chill—A chelada style light lager brewed with lime and salt. First introduced to test markets in the southern United States in March 2007, it became available across the US in Summer 2007. It has 4.2% ABV.[7]
- Sharp's—Miller's non-alcoholic beer.
- Frederick Miller Classic Chocolate Lager—A beer for the holiday season released October through December in Wisconsin, Chicago, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Valparaiso/northwest Indiana. It is brewed with six different malts, including chocolate and dark chocolate malts. [4]
- Mickey's—Mickey's is Miller's "Fine Malt Liquor." It is 5.6% ABV.[7]
- Milwaukee's Best—Miller's economy label. It is 4.3% ABV.[7]
- Milwaukee's Best Light—Miller's light economy label. Also, it's the main sponsor of the 2008 World Series of Poker. It is 4.2% ABV.[7]
- Milwaukee's Best Ice—It is 5.9% ABV.[7]
[edit] Hamm's Family
Miller has bought up the rights to the Hamm's Brewery brands.
- Hamm's Beer winner of the 2007 Gold Medal for American-Style Lager at the Great American Beer Festival
- Hamm's Golden Draft
- Hamm's Special Light
[edit] Plank Road Brewery Family
- Icehouse - Icehouse is an ice lager and was the winner of the 2003 and 2007 Gold Medals 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.
- SouthPaw Light - SouthPaw beer has a set of characteristics that are unique among the mass-produced beers in the USA. Southpaw is labeled as a light beer, but it has the alcohol content of a regular beer. It has a strong hops flavor compared with other light Pilsner style beers. It also has unique labeling and marketing.
[edit] References
- ^ Chicago Tribune
- ^ "Coors, Miller in U.S. Venture"
- ^ NY Sun Miller Beer Eyes Its Marketing Practices Over Racy Ad Josh Gerstein Oct. 2, 2007
- ^ GMToday Miller brews controversy by sponsoring alternative San Francisco street fair Lawrence Silver Sept. 29, 2007
- ^ Fox News Catholic Group Urges Boycott of Miller Brewing Co. Over San Francisco Fair Sponsorship Thursday Sept. 27, 2007
- ^ Yahoo! News Miller, the Jesus-Mocking Beer, Brent Bozell III, Oct. 12, 2007]
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Beer Nutrition Facts and Codes". MillerCoors. Retrieved on 2008-10-12.
- ^ Reuters MGD 64...As Light As It Gets Feb. 29, 2008
