Craft beer has finally influenced change in big-beer politics. With the rising sales of boozier craft beers in the U.S., MillerCoors is attempting to combat their sales by producing a newer, more alcohol heavy beer line. According to the New York Times, Miller Fortune, as the line will be called, has already began shipping to stores around the U.S.
Fortune will be featuring a 6.9 percent alcohol by volume, and comes almost two years after Anheuser Busch InBev produced their Bud Light Platinum, which came in at 6 percent alcohol by volume. The average beer falls in the range of 4.2 to 5 percent. Both beers come as an attempt to steal sales away in the millennial demographic from smaller craft breweries and liquor developers.
Actor Mark Strong has already appeared in advertisements for the new beer, which advertising executives hope will add a "dark and mysterious" quality to their new beer. "Instead of beer being relegated to tailgates," says Claudine Cheever, chief strategic officer at Saatchi and Saatchi New York, "where you have to have a party, you have to have sophomoric humor, it could be a mood shifter, a trigger for a change in your night versus 'you know where it's going.'"
The launch has recently been hindered by shoddy journalism. A reviewer for Bloomberg Businessweek noted that the beer had "a malty, complex flavor hinting at bourbon". This led other reviewers to label the beer as "bourbon flavored" which is not the aim of MillerCoors, just a flavor added by the increased alcohol content.
Expect to see commercials featuring Mark Strong, and Miller Fortune appearing on store shelves soon.
