Contradiction in terms

SABMiller is to launch a craft-style Miller Lite. You read correctly: a craft-style Lite by Miller. All marketing...little sense. Craft is flavour and intensity. Lite is Miller. Many craft brewers hope the launch will fall flat.

Craft beer by its definition is small, both in batches and distribution. So, what does it mean when the nation’s second biggest brewer takes its most popular beer and smartens it up, craft-style?

It can only mean one thing: that SABMiller is desperate. Craft beers are growing faster than the overall beer segment, and they command higher prices. Spurred by the success of their Miller Chill, the marketers in Milwaukee must have thought: “Right, what else can we do with Miller Lite?” And so they came up with the (d)craft idea.

In April Miller launched The Miller Lite Brewing Collection, which will be available nationwide by September, featuring variations on the brewer’s biggest brand: wheat, amber and blonde ale styles, all popular among craft brewers.

Tests in February in four markets - Baltimore, Charlotte, N.C., Minneapolis and San Diego - were so well received, it was reported, that SABMiller decided to go national.

Miller is pushing the beer’s "Lite" aspect as much as its "craft" taste. The beers all have 110 calories per 12-ounce serving, which is more than Miller Lite’s 96 calories. But it’s less than full-calorie craft beers.

Why on earth Miller decided to “craft-up” its Lite is up to anybody’s guess. It’s not that Miller does not have its own proper craft beer brands. Miller owns the Leinenkugel family of brand, which is known for brands like Sunset Wheat and fruit-flavoured brews. Anheuser-Busch too has its own craft beers under different labels, some of them found only in certain areas, such as Skipjack Amber in the Mid-Atlantic, and ZiegenBock, which is found only in Texas.

Come Christmas and we shall know how the new brands are doing.

Ina Verstl