E-Malt.com News article: United States: MillerCoors offering a new look and taste of its Miller Chill beer

Miller Chill, the beer that established the light lime beer category in the US in 2007, is bringing a new look and taste to beer drinkers this summer, The Business Journal of Milwaukee communicated on April, 20.

MillerCoors, the owner, has reformulated its Miller Chill brand, reducing the calorie and carbohydrate content while also introducing new packaging.

The new Miller Chill has 100 calories per 12-ounce serving, 10 calories less than when the original brew was launched in 2007. The revamped formula contains 4 grams of carbohydrates, down from 6.5 grams in the original formula.

Chill also will be distributed in a clear glass bottle instead of a green glass bottle and will feature new primary and secondary packaging, as well a new national advertising campaign, when it hits retail locations across the country in early May.

“We’ve enhanced the entire Miller Chill experience, giving consumers a crisp, light beer with a hint of fresh lime flavor now with just 100 calories per bottle,” said Herb Heneman, marketing director for the Miller Chill brand.

The revamped Chill brand will have about half of the carbohydrate content of Bud Light Lime, the prime competing brand in the category. Bud Light Lime is produced by Anheuser-Busch InBev's St. Louis subsidiary Anheuser-Busch Inc., the main competitor to MillerCoors.

After a successful launch, sales of Miller Chill dropped dramatically in the fourth quarter of 2008, the brewer's parent companies, SABMiller plc and Molson Coors Brewing Co., reported in February.

According to the parent firms, MillerCoors, a joint venture comprising Miller Brewing and Golden, Colo.-based Coors Brewing Co., saw its domestic above-premium portfolio, which includes Miller Chill, Sparks and Killian’s Irish Red, experience a double-digit decline in sales volumes in the fourth quarter of 2008 as Miller Chill faced tough comparisons with its strong launch while battling new competition in its category, namely from Bud Light Lime.


22 April, 2009