Not that I’m into expending my focus and energy on this blog ripping American macro brewers (fish in a barrel), but this recent article from the Associated Press talking about Miller Lite’s competitive struggles in the light beer marketplace really irked me.
Their continued efforts to dupe the American consumer by stealing craft beer lingo for their own profiteering purposes is shameless. From the article:
“MillerCoors shared its new Miller Lite ad campaign with investors, saying it will focus on the brand’s taste to woo new consumers. One ad played for analysts touted the fact that brewers add hops to Miller Lite three times while it is being made. It also used a slogan familiar with its fans: ‘Great taste, less filling.’”
Three hop infusions? Hats off to you, Miller Lite. However, I seem to recall from grade school that 3 multiplied by zero still equaled zero. Give them credit for world-class supply chain and production processes to put out a consistent product day in and day out. But as far as flavor and discernable hop characteristics are concerned, they’ve yet to sell me.
I just wish 96% of the beer drinking public felt the same.
March 6, 2009 at 12:44 pm
The kind of people that like Miller Light (read: many of my friends) absolutely DETEST the taste of hops. So that’s not a great selling point for them. I don’t know why macro beer companies don’t just advertise that they’re:
Incredibly cheap.
Incredibly drinkable.
Incredibly available.
They’ll still dominate the market–unfortunately–with that.
March 6, 2009 at 1:24 pm
I think the drinkability campaign comes close to talking about how taste-neutral their product really is. These beer do have their place (like in Chili or something not involving drinking them). I personally love the taste of hops, but these macros don’t really taste like anything. I’m a home-brewer and I could never understand why the brewers of these beers aren’t absolutely embarrassed about their product.
March 6, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Great point Aaron. And I think further proof that they aren’t giving their target market much credit by using these buzzwords as shorthand for improved taste. “Hmmm…they triple hop the beer. Not sure what it means, but it must be better than Bud.”
And I agree on the taste-neutral point. Somewhere along the line they convinced people that bland was good.
March 9, 2009 at 9:01 am
I think it’s totally valid to rip a macro brewer when they make a lame product and try to pass it off as something better than it is. I have no complaints when they market their beer appropriately. There is plenty of market share for cheap macro adjunct lager, just as there is for high abv malt liquor.
Unfortunately, Miller Lite tries to cut into the soft middle of the market with campaigns like this. They’re trying to convince average consumers that they’re drinking and tasting something they’re not. This is like Wonder Bread claiming that they use locally milled small batch wheat for all of their bread. It’s a nebulous claim that somehow legitimizes their product to a public that likes to think their collective taste is improving.
March 9, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Flip the whole concept on its head…I’d like to see what would happen if several highly regarded craft brewers (DFH, Stone, Three Floyds, Surly) were challenged to make the lightest, most bland-tasting adjunct lager they could produce. The results would be interesting.
March 29, 2009 at 8:05 pm
[...] Boulevard points out that they use six varieties of hops, which you’ll note is twice the number of hop additions for Miller [...]
April 8, 2009 at 12:23 am
[...] Draft or Budweiser. Sweet nose of grain and corn. No real hops to speak of, especially compared to triple-hops brewed Miller Lite, but if you really concentrate you get a fleeting sense of them. Taste is pretty smooth, more of [...]
July 18, 2009 at 8:11 am
WHICH MACRO BEERS HAVE ENOUGH HOPS TO TASTE? — Most of us know Miller Lite is bland, with little hops taste. Their “triple hops” slogan is pure marketing hype. … … But what macro beer has enough hops to be able to taste it? Mickey’s Fine Malt Liquor? Bud Ice? Miller Genuine Draft? … … I live on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean where only macro beers are usually available in stores. We have cable TV so can see the commercials claiming Sam Adams beer has high hops content. One grocery store chain here (the Payless stores) does have some non-macro beers, but I would appreciate if someone who knows could name which brands have discernible hops taste.