MILLER BREWING COMPANY

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'Miller Brewing Company' is the second largest American beermaker and is based in Milwaukee. 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

History

Current brands

Miller family

Hamm's Family

Plank Road Brewery Family

External links

History

Miller Brewing Company was founded in 1855 by German-born 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 (a granddaughter of Fred Miller 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 30 May, 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.[3]
In 2005, the Chicago Tribune reported that Miller gave $30,000 in order to support an illegal alien amnesty march. Immediately, a boycott of Miller began and remains active as of 2007. The website, http://www.millerboycott.com/ alleges that Miller originally wanted illegal aliens to remain in the United States, but that Miller has since backtracked, saying in a letter that Miller "will closely review all requests for support from community and charitable organizations to ensure that we are not indirectly funding or associating our name with advocacy efforts on the immigration issue."

Current brands

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 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. The concept for Cold-filtered Miller Genuine Draft was developed by new product consultant Calle & Company. Martin Calle, a long-time neighbor of the W.R. Grace family, original owners of Miller Brewing, 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. 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. It has 4.7% ABV.

★ '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 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, although it has slightly less alcohol than European pilsners, at [5.0% ABV]. The prevailing slogan on current packaging is "The Champagne of Beers", an adaptation of its long standing slogan "The Champagne of Bottled Beers". It was originally available in miniature champagne bottles and was one of the premier high end beers in the country for many years. Current marketing uses the tagline, "'Take Back the High Life''" ''and feature a gruff beer deliveryman removing the Champagne of Beers from stores, restaurants and clubs that charge too much and prevent people from living 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 boys". In some localities, Miller High Life is offered in a 32 oz can, referred to as a "King Can." 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.

★ '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 is expected to be available nationally by Summer 2007.

★ '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]

★ 'Milwaukee's Best' — Miller's economy label. Known for its "can crush" TV spots and for being "Brewed for a Man's Taste"; sometimes referred to by the nickname of "Beast."

★ 'Milwaukee's Best Light' — Light version of Milwaukee's Best, which has served as the presenting sponsor of the "World Series of Poker" in 2006 and 2007.

★ 'Milwaukee's Best Ice'— Milwaukee's Best's version of an ice beer is popular among college students for its low price and 5.9% ABV.

Hamm's Family

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

★ 'Hamm's Beer'

★ 'Hamm's Golden Draft'

★ 'Hamm's Special Light'

Plank Road 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.

★ '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.
The easiest and least expensive way to reduce the calories in a beer is to lower the alcohol content. This can be done by adding water, which dilutes the flavor. The alcohol in a 12-ounce Pilsner style beer accounts for about 75 calories. Most light beers have less alcohol by volume (ABV) than their “regular” counterpart. For example, Budweiser has 5% ABV and 145 calories; Bud light has 4.2% ABV, 110 calories. Coors has 5% ABV and 142 calories; Coors light has 4.2% ABV, 102 calories. In these examples, the reduction in calories is proportionate to the reduction in alcohol content. Southpaw has 5% ABV, as much as most “regular” beers. It has 123 calories.
Southpaw is labeled as being double-hopped. The German beer purity law of 1512 states that beer can be made from just four ingredients: barley, hops, water, and yeast. Hops are a natural preservative in beer along with the alcohol. One of the hoppiest beer styles is the India Pale Ale (IPA). These were shipped from England to India during colonial times and needed the preservative to last during such long shipping. Because it adds flavor without adding calories, it makes sense to increase the hops in a light beer. Think of Southpaw as a light IPA. Southpaw may not impress the beer aficionado who favors the microbrews, but it is certainly a niche product among the mass produced American beers. As a light bodied Pilsner, perhaps it is best served ice cold.
Southpaw’s marketing also makes it unique. The mascot is the kangaroo, which would not be unique in Australia, but is so in the USA. At first glance, the labels are all the same, but look closer. In the center of the labels on bottles are two kangaroos doing various activities, each with a mug of beer in “hand”: fishing, soccer, bowling, boxing, volleyball, tailgating, etc. A 12-pack of bottles will include many different such labels.
In sports, the word “Southpaw” indicates uniqueness. In baseball a southpaw is a left-handed batter who stands on the opposite side of home plate when batting compared to right-handed batters. This can confound a pitcher. In boxing, a fighter leads with his left hand and follows with his right. A southpaw does the opposite. Many boxers will not fight a southpaw because this is so confusing to them.
The low carbohydrate fad during the Atkins diet craze of the early 2000s did not fare well for Southpaw. Michelob ultra has 2.6g carbs, 99 calories, 4.1 ABV; Budweiser Select has 3.1g carbs, 99 calories, 4.3 ABV; Miller Lite has 3.2g carbs, 96 calories, 4.2 ABV. Southpaw is labeled at 6.6g carbs, 123 calories, 5% ABV.
Southpaw is not the lowest in carbohydrates, calories, flavor, or alcohol by volume. It has a unique combination of these characteristics among the mass produced beers in the USA.

External links

★ Official website