Miller to launch craft-style Lite

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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.

Miller Lite's amber style is to compete with New Belgium Fat Tire, which has 159 calories per serving. Wheat will go against Blue Moon, made by Molson Coors Brewing Co. — which is set to combine U.S. operations with Miller later this year. That has 169 calories. The blonde ale will go against Bass Ale, a British brew imported by Anheuser-Busch Cos., with 155 calories per serving.

Anheuser-Busch, the nation's largest brewer with about half the market, is doing something similar to one of its stronger brands, Michelob, said Juli Niemann, an analyst with Smith Moore & Co. in St. Louis. The new Michelob unit will be where Anheuser-Busch focuses on similar craft-style type beers, like Michelob Porter, and create new ones.

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"They're trying to get the main brands back again into some kind of dominance. They chose Michelob," Niemann said.

But Anheuser-Busch also 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.

Miller has its own craft line as well in Leinenkugel's, which is known for brands like Sunset Wheat and fruit-flavored brews.

Using different names is a smarter way to go for big brewers trying to ride the craft beer wave, said David Morris, research director of food and beverage at Mintel International Inc. Their mainstay brands like Miller Lite have such strong brand identities and loyal followings, it'll be hard for drinkers to think of them in this new light.

Morris said he was skeptical the Miller Lite Brewers Collection would be successful. It may give Miller Lite drinkers something new and bring in a bit more money, but it won't lure people already drinking craft beers, he said.

"It borrows from craft, it's craft-style," he said. "It's an attempt to kind of approximate in the minds of consumers what craft beer stands for."

Josh Ninabuck was drinking his usual brew, a Miller Lite, at the Swingin' Door bar in Milwaukee on Thursday. He said if he wanted to venture into the craft segment, he'd go for a Sam Adams, which is made by Boston Beer Co., or something from a brewer with deeper craft roots. But looking at his bottle, the 28-year-old said he'll keep the status quo.

"I'll probably stick with what I know," Ninabuck said.

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