After an extensive, 18-month test, Miller Brewing Co. announced the national roll-out of plastic bottles for three of its top beer brands.
Miller Lite, Miller Genuine Draft and Icehouse beers are goi…
After an extensive, 18-month test, Miller Brewing Co. announced the national roll-out of plastic bottles for three of its top beer brands. Miller Lite, Miller Genuine Draft and Icehouse beers are going to be sold in 16-ounce and 20-ounce recyclable plastic bottles. Although a number of brewers globally have experimented with beer in plastic bottles, Miller is the first brewer to attempt widespread distribution in the US. The Milwaukee-based unit of Philip Morris Cos Inc. sees the new packaging as an opportunity to reach an untapped market. Miller spokesman Scott Bussen said the plastic packaging offers an opportunity to capture new sales. “It is definitely driving incremental volume and we see it as a great opportunity to continue to do so,” he said. Jerry Steinman, editor of Beer Marketers“ Insights, an industry newsletter, said Miller is “making an effort to see whether it can get a leg up on anyone else in certain outlets. Undoubtedly, they have more to gain than to lose.” Last year, rival Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. tested beer in plastic bottles on a smaller scale but abandoned the project. “They toyed with plastic and decided against it,” Steinman said. But Miller“s plastic bottles have already been sold at major sporting events in the US including in more than 20 NFL stadiums, 12 Major League Baseball parks and eight NBA/NHL arenas, as well as at the past two Super Bowls. According to the company, the wide-mouthed, resealable bottles offer the same four-month shelf life as glass bottles and aluminum cans and stay cold as long as glass and longer than cans. The brewer developed the recyclable bottles in conjunction with Continental PET Technologies, a unit of Owens-Illinois Inc. “I think it“s a great package for certain occasions where bottles can be a problem,” said Kevin Burke, whose company, Burke Beverage of California, has distributed the bottles to the Oakland Coliseum for the past year. While the company foresees some initial scepticism from consumers accustomed to beer served in glass bottles or aluminum cans, the company believes the benefits will win out. “We understand the scepticism,” said Miller“s Bussen. “There is a long-standing emotional bond between adult beer drinkers and that glass bottle. We don“t see plastic replacing aluminum or glass. But we do think there is a place for it. It offers a flexible packaging choice we think was missing in the beer industry.”