US beers go south of the border.
The folks at Miller Brewing
have evidently been thinking about that cultural trend, the
booming success of both Corona and tequila, and a previously
little-known Mexican beer ‘cocktail’ called the chelada: a
salt-rimmed glass of light lager with ice and a squeeze of
fresh lime. Throw that all in the Beer Innovation machine,
turn the crank, and out comes Miller Chill, a light beer
flavored with lime and salt that has really taken
off.
Okay, actually, there’s not
a Beer Innovation machine, either. You probably knew that.
Miller’s thinking went more like this, the straight dope on
where the impetus for Chill came from, delivered by Chill
brand manager, Carl Cahill.
ORIGINS
of CHILL “There are
three significant consumer trends making a lasting impact on
the US beer business,” Cahill began. “First, the continuing
LDAC [legal drinking age consumer] shift towards
light beers. (Light beers now account for almost half of all
beer sold in the US). Second, the ongoing shift to
‘Worthmore’ brands. (Worthmore supermarket case share has
grown almost 4 points in the last five years, while
mainstream has lost almost a point and economy has lost 3
points.) And third, the increasing Latinization of US
culture.”
“Worthmore” is the Miller
Brewing Co. corporate word for beers that sell at a
pricepoint above premium beers. It encompasses craft beers,
most imports and big brewer specialty beers like Molson
Coors’s Blue Moon, Anheuser-Busch’s various specialty beers
and Miller’s own Leinenkugel specialties. It’s an
interesting classification of a large, varied and profitable
part of the beer market, and Miller’s been wanting a bigger
chunk of it.
Chill just might be a way
to get that chunk. At least, that’s what Cahill and Miller
think. “Miller is looking to leverage these real shifts in
the US beer market by creating a new brand that sits at the
confluence of these three trends,” he explained. “Miller
Chill capitalizes on the rapid Latinization of our culture
by offering a modern American take on a long-standing
Mexican recipe: the chelada. It’s the only light beer brewed
with a hint of lime and pinch of salt, and it sits in the
sweet spot that combines the velocity of a mainstream brand
with the image appeal and price point of a super premium
brand.”
Translating that, Cahill’s
saying that Chill should sell cases like a big mainstream
beer – since it has the advertising and distribution support
a big mainstream brand has – with the “I’m special” feel and
“I’m willing to pay for it” price of a craft or import
beer.
Oddly enough, Chill wasn’t
the first idea they had in this direction. “We first
conceived of Miller Chill more than a year before testing
began,” Cahill recalled, “while looking at ways to
capitalize on continuing consumer desire for more flavors
and more refreshment. Our initial direction was a
lemon-flavored shandy, but the chelada-inspired
lime-and-salt combination of Miller Chill showed greater
potential to deliver mainstream volume at Worthmore
pricing.”
The BIG
CHILL The
unofficial, unattributed buzz in the industry – unofficial
because sales numbers on individual brands are hard to get
officially confirmed – is that Chill may already be closing
in on Blue Moon’s sales figures. After a very successful
test period, Miller began a national roll-out just after
Memorial Day; Chill began to hit shelves across
Massachusetts in early July. Cahill says it’s doing well:
“Miller Chill is performing ahead of expectations in
Massachuetts, which is consistent with the rest of the
country.”
Local reactions back him
up. Jay Passerini at Bertelli’s Liquor Mart, in West
Springfield, is selling about “7 to 1O cases a week,” he
said. “That’s pretty good for me. The advertising on TV is
helping. Once the ads kicked in, people have been asking for
it. And we are getting repeat sales.”
Brian Goddard, is the
assistant manager at Four Seasons Wine & Liquor in
Hadley, where Chill “is doing very well, we’re getting
repeat sales,” he says. “As soon as it came in, people were
asking about it.”
On-premise sales are just
starting to roll. Neil Sisson is the manager at the Joshua
Tree Bar & Grill in Somerville. “I just got
[Chill] in,” he says. “We’ve got some promotions
coming up. Usually they send the Miller girls, and for an
hour they’ll hand out about $2OO of the product over an
hour. We’ll go from there.”
The promotion and
advertising is solid. “The relative media weight for Miller
Chill is on par with Heineken Premium Light’s launch levels
from last year,” promised Cahill, “ensuring that awareness
wouldn’t be a problem for Miller Chill. In addition to the
advertising, we’re driving awareness and trial of Miller
Chill with on- and off-premise sampling programs, digital
marketing, POS and merchandising, and public
relations.
“From a retailer
perspective, it’s pretty simple,” Cahill hammered home.
“Miller Chill gives them Worthmore margins at Mainstream
velocity. That’s a strong profit proposition for any
retailer.”
DEEPER
CHILL That’s great
news for Miller: a hot new product that’s growing like
crazy, and a solid promotional budget behind it. But what
about that “previously little-known Mexican beer ‘cocktail’
called the chelada”? Ah, well, there’s a story there, too,
and it’s one you might be interested in for a little
cross-selling, or just a way to keep interest going in this
new segment by having something to talk about when you’re
upselling this ‘Worthmore’ beer.
Barmen at Mexican
restaurants can tell you some of it. Rogelio Luja, who works
at El Sarape, in Braintree, was happy to tell me about what
he called a “michelada. You can make it with any beer: we
use mostly Mexican, of course. You salt the rim of the mug,
then take ice, lime juice, tabasco, and Worcestershire. Put
all that in and pour the beer in on top. That’s
michelada.”
“Michelada” and “chelada”
are obviously related, and both apparently mean something
roughly equivalent to “my cold brewski”, at least according
to most sources. I offer this with the same certainty that I
use with the origins of the beer-term “bock”, which is to
say, not much. The history and origins of this beer cocktail
are muddled and messy, as a quick trip to the
self-contradictory Wikipedia article on “Michelada” will
show you. The michelada is five-years-old, the chelada is
4O-years-old, the chelada is a tourist drink, the michelada
predates Columbus . . . this is the kind of mess that leads
amateurs to throw up their hands in despair and just pick
one at random.
That’s why I was happy to
find a pro had looked into the matter. Renowned new york
times reporter Tim Weiner, who usually is found on the
national security/intelligence beat, has that wonderful
habit of the professional journalist of always keeping his
ears – or in this case, his mouth – open for a story. He did
a piece on the michelada back in August of 2OO1, just before
things got a lot more complicated and busy in his main
field.
Weiner was in Mexico City,
and became intrigued by something he saw the locals
drinking. “When I first came here a year ago, I noticed that
people were ordering beer accompanied by a highball glass.
The glass was rimmed with salt, filled with ice. At its base
lay a weird primordial ooze. Combined with a lager like Sol
or Pacifico, the mix took on a honeyed hue. With a dark
beer, like Negra Modelo, it was the color of burnished
mahogany. They called it a michelada (pronounced
me-chel-LA-da) . . .”
Weiner got the bit in his
teeth and took off. He went to experienced Mexico City
barmen to get behind the mystery, to learn when things
really started. The chelada, he learned, was a simple iced
beer with lime and salt, a common and ancient Mexican
flavoring. “‘Lime and salt – that’s primordial,’ said
Vicente Cruz, 26 years behind the bar at the Gallo de
Oro.”
It is, Weiner says, “a
wispy version of the michelada, sometimes called a chelada
in these parts, and often served in Mexican beach resorts.
It’s refreshing and piquant, to be sure. But the plain old
chelada is in principle not so different from a Shandy in
England – basically, lager and lemonade.” Maybe Miller’s
first thought wasn’t as far off-base as I’d
thought.
But Cruz pegged the
evolution of the darker-tinged michelada as a product of a
later era. “‘The rest of the ingredients have emerged within
the past 1O years, and from where, and why, God knows,'”
Weiner quotes him as saying.
CHILLING
the COMPETITION Why
do we care about this “michelada”, made with Tabasco,
Worcestershire and often tomato juice? Because there are
bound to be arguments about Chill’s authenticity as it grows
more popular. It is clear that “chelada” and “michelada” are
two different drinks. There are restaurants in Massachusetts
that will make you a ‘fresh’ michelada or chelada. Miller’s
done the work.
No surprise, their main
competitor has done the work as well. Anheuser-Busch is
doing the same thing with a michelada, although they’re
actually calling it “Chelada”. To be more precise, they have
two new products, and the names are “Bud Light &
Clamato* Chelada” and “Budweiser & Clamato Chelada”.
Chances are you not have heard of them yet, but you will.
They were introduced to test markets in Texas and California
in March, went statewide in June, and came out in Arizona,
New Mexico and Chicago in August. National roll-out is set
for January, 2OO8.
Clamato? The tomato juice
and clam broth mix is very popular with Mexicans and
Mexican-Americans. It was first introduced in Baja
California, and has a reputation for enhancing
virility.
Mixing Clamato with beer is
not a new idea. “Anheuser-Busch and Clamato have been
cross-marketing for the last five to seven years,” said
Kathy Sattler, Innovations Manager at A-B. “So the idea of
mixing was not new. The new idea was pre-packaging, having
it ready to go. Consumers had voiced their opinion that they
liked beer mixed with Clamato. That’s what the consumer goes
for first: they get the Clamato, then they choose a
beer.”
Like Chill, Chelada has
taken off strongly. “We hit an emotional chord with
consumers,” Sattler said. “People are becoming brand
evangelists behind this thing. ‘Hey, I mix my beer with
Clamato. Budweiser is copying me!’ They feel almost
compelled to tell people. The word of mouth is
tremendous.”
It’s not just consumers;
the support from them is making believers of retailers. “The
retailers are excited,” she added. “They haven’t seen
anything like this since Michelob Ultra, people are calling
and asking about it. We’ve just been so
surprised.”
Sattler and her innovation
group at A-B believe it’s the authenticity of the Clamato
brand name. “This consumer group really connects with brand
names,” she said. “It gives it authenticity. We didn’t think
of this recipe, we merely made it more convenient to drink.
They’re telling us we did the right thing.”
Speaking of recipes,
Sattler points out that the Clamato mix makes this a natural
with food. Clamato is often used a base for soups and sauces
in Latino homes. “Budweiser/Bud Light & Clamato Chelada
pairs well with traditional Latino dishes such as ceviche,
chicken enchiladas, tamales, and tomatillo,” she said. “The
beer also pairs well with mild cheeses like manchego and
queso blanco, and perfectly compliments the richness and
smoothness of guacamole.”
You may be wondering: why
Bud Light and Budweiser both? Couldn’t they make up their
mind, are they hedging their bets? Much simpler explanation,
according to Sattler: “Both brands are so popular with the
Latinos, it wouldn’t make sense to only have one of them.
People aren’t going to cross party lines: if you’re a light
beer drinker, you gravitate to Bud Light; but if you’re a
premium beer drinker, you drink Budweiser, and you won’t buy
the other. Why just put one out? You’re losing that piece of
the pie!”
FORECAST
is for CHILL The
big question for all these beers is whether they have legs.
Will this be another of the cycles of “innovative beers”
that seem destined to make a new market segment, then fizzle
out: dry beer, ice beer, low-carb beer, malternatives? These
seem to be hot weather beers; will they hold up when the
seasons change?
“Beer drinkers don’t stop
looking for refreshment when the summer ends,” Cahill said
confidently. “Miller Chill has demonstrated that it has
mainstream volume potential, and we expect that to continue
throughout the year. If we continue to be clear about the
brand’s point of differentiation – a more refreshing light
beer brewed with lime and salt – consumers will keep coming
back. The brand has plenty of room to grow and we have the
plans in place to capitalize on that growth
opportunity.”
Goddard, at Four Seasons in
Hadley, was pessimistic. “I’d be surprised, it’s a summer
drink,” he said. But a clerk at Atlas Liquors in Medford was
more upbeat. “Probably,” he said. “I keep thinking of
Corona. That’s their competition, really. Corona sells in
the winter, so this should sell in the winter, too. Of
course, I’m thinking the Pats are going to win the Super
Bowl, too: you have to play the game to see.”
Corona was the elephant in
the room that no one mentioned in all my interviews except
for this one clerk who declined to give his name; maybe
that’s why. Everyone wants a chunk of the Corona market, and
Corona, of course, is defending it. You’ll see some recipes
out there now for cheladas, micheladas and michelada roja
made with Corona (see sidebar).
Is Corona feeling the
chill? No competition is good, but Corona has a ton of
history and authenticity in the bank on this one. Don’t
expect them to roll over.
This is a fast-moving
phenomenon, but it remains to be seen whether it will last.
As always, keep an eye on sales, and try not to be caught if
the music suddenly stops playing. Like the man said: you
have to play the game to see.
