Miller High Life

Review Date 2/10/2002 By John Staradumsky

  Style: American Lager   Brewery: Miller   Country: USA   State: Wisconsin   $ Per OZ: $.06   ABV: 5%

Ready for a surprise? This is actually a darned good beer. Of late, I have been struck by the urge to review beers that are a bit more mainstream than what I usually drink. Hey, not everyone who comes to Bruguru.com for advice is a beer connoisseur, and I consider it my duty as guru of brew to make known my thoughts on the beers they drink. It just may be that, among the class of beers in question, Miller High Life is one of the best on the market.

This is the beer that spawned Miller Time, which has become synonymous in popular culture with rewarding one’s self after a hard day’s work with an ice-cold beer. Believe it or not, High Life is also the reason that for all you do, this Bud’s for you, since Anheuser-Busch developed that slogan in response to and in imitation of the highly successful Miller campaign.

Miller Brewing Company was founded in 1855 when German immigrant Frederick Miller acquired the famous Plank Road brewery from Frederick Best. Today, the Plank Road brewery is not a functioning concern, though Miller does use the name as the producer of beers like Red Dog and Icehouse, and even brewed a Plank Road beer in the past.

A new flagship brewery is now located where the Plank Road brewery once stood, and Miller also maintains its corporate headquarters here too. The company also operates breweries in Albany, Georgia; Eden, North Carolina; Trenton, Ohio; Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin; Tumwater, Washington; Irwindale, California; and Fort Worth, Texas.

Miller High Life was introduced in 1903, and as such is the oldest brand in the Miller Lineup. High Life won a bronze medal at the 1999 Great American Beer Festival in the American-Style Lager category, though this category is for the most part a bone thrown to the megabrewers by GABF. It puzzles me how the winners in the category change from year to year, while the recipes for the beers in question never change.

For many years Miller’s Flagship beer, High Life is now a bargain brand sold at a lower price than premium brands the likes of Budweiser, Coors, and Miller Genuine Draft. High Life is a great value, available locally at an incredible 99 cents for a 22-ounce bottle. Six-Packs are $3.99, twelve packs are sold for $6.99.

None of this would matter, of course, if the beer wasn’t good, but it is. Miller High Life pours to a pale golden color with a light fizzy head formation and a fairly non-descript nose. A constant stream of tiny bubbles rises briskly to the top of the glass, giving the brew a champagne-like appearance (High Life is advertised as the champagne of beers). An impressive amount of Brussels lace follows the beer down the glass.

The palate is a bit thin but very malty, surprisingly pleasant with a crisp, light character of very fresh malt. There is a very faint adjunct note present but it’s not enough to detract from the overall quality of the beer. The finish leans slightly to the sweet side, with little sign of hops present. A very drinkable brew, I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

If you normally drink Budweiser, Coors, or some sub-brand thereof, I recommend giving Miller’s High Life a try. It is an exceptional beer in its class, and is a great bargain at the same time.