Higher High Life

Outside the Miller Brewing Co.'s big new Milwaukee brewhouse last week, President Fred Miller, 46, helped two of his oldest workmen roll out the 3,000,000th barrel of Miller High Life Beer made in 1952. This output, said Fred Miller, boosted the company from sixth to fifth biggest in the U.S.

Brewer Miller did not intend to be content with that. In five years, spending $25 million on expansion, he had brought his High Life brew from 20th place to a position right behind Schlitz, Anheuser-Busch, Ballantine and Pabst. Last week President Miller announced that he is starting a second $20 million expansion. Said he: "Our goal is to be the largest producer of the best beer."

Double-Threat Man.Unquestionably, the fizz in Miller High Life is Fred Miller. A tall (6 ft.), lean, handsome man who was once an All-America tackle and football captain at Notre Dame, Miller keeps his muscles trim at handball and tennis, hunts and fishes with the oldest of his eight children, pilots his own Grumman Widgeon amphibian around the U.S. Besides running the brewery, Miller has energy left to run scores of outside activities. He is president of the Milwaukee Brewers Association, runs public relations for the U.S. Brewers Foundation, is a director of the Milwaukee County Society for Mental Health and the Milwaukee Boys' Club. Pope Pius made him a Knight of St. Gregory for running a campaign to build a new orphanage.

Unlike many football stars, Miller was as good in the classroom as on the field, graduated from Notre Dame ('29) with a high scholastic average. Miller went home to Milwaukee, where his grandfather Frederick, a German-born master brewer, built his brewery in 1855. At a time when many other brewers made dark, strong beers, old Fred began making a light, dry Pilsner-type aimed at the quality trade and billed as "the champagne of bottled beer." After his death, a succession of descendants ran the brewery. Young Fred's family owned enough stock for him to become a director in 1936, but he spent most of his time running his father's prosperous lumber and real-estate business. In 1947, when relatives had a hard time agreeing among themselves on brewery affairs, Fred took on the full-time job of running the brewery as president. The stockholders agreed to spend $25 million out of profits and their own pockets to expand and modernize the brewery and go after a national market.

Adman's Man. Miller felt that the U.S.'s taste had changed so that his light beer had an advantage. To get quantity to match his quality, he spent most of the $25 million building a completely new brewhouse, expanding the bottling shop. He boosted capacity from 800,000 to 3,000,000 barrels a year, signed up distributors in all 48 states and in the Hawaiian Islands. He also set up an International Division to handle sales abroad.

He splurged on advertising, on which he now spends an estimated $6,500,000 a year. At first, other brewers thought his ads rather odd; they violated all the rules. Since the demand for beer is biggest in summer, Miller saw little reason in advertising then. He did most of his advertising in the fall and winter, as a result built up an almost even year-round demand. While other brewers did about 40% of their business in cool months, Miller did 45%. Though some still thought of beer as a lowbrow drink, Miller went after the fashionable trade, is the only brewer to advertise in Vogue.

Ground Gained. This emphasis on quality was increased by the clear, sloping High Life bottle, whose tapering neck and paper collar suggested a split of champagne. Other brewers used dark bottles to protect their beer from light, but Miller did not worry about light spoiling his beer. He argued that age, not light, is what makes beer deteriorate, kept his fresh by seeing that no dealer stocked more than he could quickly sell. Although all beer sales have recently been inching up by about 2% a year, in five years High Life chalked up the industry's biggest single gain of 275% in sales.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.