USA: MillerCoors CEO says Miller Lite has passed Budweiser for third most popular beer nationally

For MillerCoors, there's still a long way to the top to reach the domestic dominance of AB InBev's signature offering, Bud Light.

Still, MillerCoors CEO Gavin Hattersley excitedly shared on December 8 that Miller Lite has passed AB InBev's "Great American Lager," Budweiser, for third most popular nationally, behind Bud and Coors light brands. Hattersley said that Miller Lite and Coors Light have been steadily gaining in domestic markets, the Milwaukee Business Journal reported.

"Between Miller and Coors Light, we've taken share in the premium light category away from Bud Light," Hattersley told an audience of more than 350 Milwaukee-area business executives at the Milwaukee Business Journal's Power Breakfast at The Pfister Hotel in downtown Milwaukee. "We've been doing that now for two-and-a-half years, every single quarter."

Hattersley partially chalked that up to the way MillerCoors portrays its two main premium light beers in the market.

"We think our positioning of Miller Lite being the 'Original Lite Beer' and Coors Light being 'The World's Most Refreshing Beer' are great positions and we're building on those," Hattersley said.

It's not all about the two signature brews at MillerCoors these days however, and Hattersley was sure to point out the other beers making inroads domestically for the company, including Miller High Life, the company's third-most popular option.

"Miller High Life has just been around for so long and it's enjoying a resurgence, particularly amongst the millennials," he said. "We brought back the old jingle, the old commercials for Miller High Life that you would've seen back in the '80s. Miller High Life is one of the brands that reacts the best to advertising and we're seeing that right now."

Hattersley also cited Blue Moon, the "largest craft beer in the country," and "our homegrown Wisconsin favorite," Leinenkugel's, as big successes for MillerCoors.

"Nine out of 10 shandy beers consumed in the United States are Leinenkugel's," Hattersley said. "Those are our two focus brands."

The company's craft brewery acquisition program has also yielded benefits. Hattersley said they've been strategic, acquiring craft breweries in various parts of the country, such as Terrapin in Georgia, Hop Valley in Oregon and Revolver in Texas.

"Local beers are important from a growth point of view," Hattersley said. "We've found partners that we think will add value to us with brands that we think can travel."

MillerCoors remains committed to Milwaukee, he said, as evidenced by a new regional global business services center that will employ an additional 150 people in the coming years, as well as a $50 million expansion of the Tenth Street Brewery and $45 million in upgrades to the main Milwaukee brewery.

"We've certainly added capabilities to the Milwaukee brewery," Hattersley said. "As we turn the business around and grow volume, that will certainly require us to add employees."

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