Miller Brewing Company
The Miller Brewing Company is the second largest US brewery based in Milwaukee . She belongs to SABMiller . Miller has locations in Albany , Chippewa Falls , Eden , Fort Worth , Irwindale , Milwaukee, and Trenton .
history
founding
In 1850 the brothers Charles and Lorenz Best left their father's family business, Best and Company , to set up their own company. In Milwaukee, which at that time was particularly shaped by German emigration, they founded the Plank Road Brewery (also Old Watertown Plank Road Brewery ). Five years later, the German emigrant Frederick Miller bought the brewery from them for $ 2,300 and renamed it Milwaukee Brewery .
The proximity to the surrounding farms in the Menomonee Valley facilitated the procurement of raw materials. In addition, Miller was able to fall back on the cave system set up by the Best brothers for storing and fermenting the beer. In the following years he expanded the system and had it clad with bricks.
Due to the long distance to the next largest city Milwaukee, Miller had a house built next to the brewery for his unmarried workers. In addition to their wages, these workers also received board and lodging.
Turn of the century to the 1950s
In the 1880s Miller introduced a number of technological innovations: In 1883 Miller began bottling. Three years later, Miller was one of the first breweries in the world to pasteurize their beer . In 1887 mechanical cooling systems were introduced so that the beer could ferment for days. Previously, the beer had to be stored in caves in the traditional way and cooled with blocks of ice. So you could now produce all year round. Frederick Miller died in 1888, after which his sons Ernest, Emil and Frederick took over the management of the company together with their brother-in-law Carl. At that time Miller was already one of the ten largest American breweries with a total output of about 300,000 barrels a year. They registered the brewery under the name Frederick Miller Brewing Company .
In 1903 the Miller High Life brand was introduced. In 1904 production was accelerated with the introduction of automatic filling systems. Ernest Miller died in 1922, after which his brother Frederick A. took over the presidency. At the time of Prohibition , Miller produced non-alcoholic beverages such as malt extract and soft drinks . In 1936 cans were filled for the first time. The classic "six pack" came onto the market in 1952. One million barrels of beer was produced for the first time in 1949 .
In 1947 Frederick C., the president's nephew, became the new head of the company after the president's death. He set up an extensive program of company expansion, as a result of which the sponsorship deal with the Milwaukee Braves came about. Frederick C. died in a plane crash in 1954. His successor was Norman Klug, who continued the program.
In the following years the breweries A. Gettelman Company (1961), General Brewing Corporation of Azusa (1965) and the Carling O'Keefe Brewery (1965) became part of the company.
Competition against Anheuser-Busch
Three years later, Miller was sold to Philip Morris for $ 130 million . At that time, the strategic goal was set to catch up with the competitor Anheuser-Busch as the market leader. In order to achieve this, a much greater focus than before was placed on marketing and product line expansion. A number of advertising campaigns were launched under the direction of Marketing Director John Murphys, promoting Miller beer as a “blue collar” layer. Among other things, with the slogan "If you've got the time, we've got the beer" (meaning "If you have the time, we have the beer"), sales could be increased.
In the decades that followed, Miller expanded by introducing new brands and acquiring competitors. In 1972 the Peter Hand Brewery was bought. In 1975 the Miller Lite brand was introduced, making the brewery the second largest brewery in the United States within five years . The introduction made Miller a successful pioneer in the low calorie space. Miller's competitors soon started making their own light beers. The Milwaukee's Best brand was introduced in 1982, and Miller Genuine Draft in 1986 . In 1988 Miller acquired the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company in Chippewa Falls .
The American beer market at that time was strongly influenced by competition from the largest national breweries, including Miller, Anheuser-Busch, Schlitz and Stroh . These disputes often ended in court. After other breweries brought their own versions of a light beer onto the market, Miller tried unsuccessfully to sue for property rights to the name "Lite". Another time, Anheuser-Busch tried to sue the Miller Brewery for “deceptive packaging”. Miller had recently introduced a product in the style of Löwenbräu beer , as a result of which Anheuser-Busch's Michelob brand lost 10% of the market share. In a similar proceeding, Miller complained that Anheuser-Busch's “Natural Light” brand was by no means “natural”.
Despite the great success of the Miller Lite and Genuine Draft brands, Miller failed to catch up with Anheuser-Busch. In 1988, President and CEO William Howell resigned. He was succeeded by Leonard J. Goldstein. In the early 1990s, the American beer market stagnated. The three largest breweries, Anheuser-Busch, Miller and Coors, had to lay off workers. To keep the company growing, Miller entered the Canadian market through the acquisition of the Molson Brewery . In addition, the distribution rights to Foster's lager and other imported beers in the USA were acquired.
SABMiller
In 2002, the South African Breweries bought the majority of the Miller shares and thereby founded SABMiller , the second largest brewery group in the world with a total output of over 130 million barrels per year.
In 2006 Miller bought the brands Sparks and Steel Reserve from beverage company McKenzie River Corporation for $ 215 million.
In 2008 the US divisions of SABMiller and Molson Coors merged to form the Miller Coors joint venture . SABMiller holds 58% of the shares, Molson Coors 42%. However, both partners have equal voting rights. The headquarters of the joint venture is in Chicago .
In October 2015, SABMiller agreed to the takeover by the world market leader Anheuser-Busch Inbev from Belgium.
Beverage brands
The yeast stick used for some brands of beer is still the same as that used by founder Frederick Miller in the 19th century.
- Miller
- Miller Lite
- Miller Genuine Draft: Unlike conventional beers, Miller Genuine Draft is cooled to approx. 1.5 ° C immediately after the brewing process and filtered four times.
- Miller 64
- Miller High Life
- Miller High Life Light
- Miller Chill
- Miller Midnight
- Sharp's
- Frederick Miller Classic Chocolate Lager
- Mickey's
- Olde English 800
- Milwaukee's Best
- Milwaukee's Best Light
- Milwaukee's Best Ice
- Hamm
Miller holds the rights to the trademarks of Theodore Hamm Brewing Company :
- Hamm's Beer
- Hamm's Golden Draft
- Hamm's Special Light
- Plank Road Brewery
This family of brands was named after the brewery's original name.
- Icehouse
- Icehouse EDGE
- Red dog
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Beer History: Miller Brewing Company (English), accessed June 19, 2013
- ↑ a b c d e f MillerCoors Timeline , accessed on June 19, 2013
- ↑ a b c d e f g Funding Universe: Miller Brewing Company , accessed June 19, 2013
- ^ The Examiner: Miller Brewing Company , accessed June 19, 2013
- ^ MillerCoors History of Innovations , accessed June 19, 2013
- ↑ a b Landor Associates: Miller Lite , accessed June 19, 2013
- ↑ With beer, more than just size counts in: Handelsblatt Online, October 15, 2015