That annoying Miller Fortune commercial

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by Orca, Jun 13, 2014.

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  1. Orca

    Orca Grand Pooh-Bah (4,441) Sep 18, 2010 Washington
    Pooh-Bah Society

    You know, the one with the Brit actor: "...brewed for more spirited nights. It's undistilled..."

    Aside from eisbocks, or maybe Utopias (and I'm not even sure about those), is any beer distilled? WTF does that even mean?

    I know, they're trying to make this beer look like whisky or something. But I find it deeply stupid—which is to say, par for the course for a BMC marketing campaign.

    Sorry, it's late and I needed to vent. Feeling better already. Good night.
     
  2. DoubleYourD

    DoubleYourD Initiate (0) May 13, 2014 Colorado

    I'm on your side, man. I hang my head every time I drive pass one of the billboards. It's as if a "cold-brewed lager" wasn't groundbreaking enough.
     
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  3. DarrenStory

    DarrenStory Initiate (0) Feb 11, 2013 Oregon
    Trader

    I picked up on the "un-distilled" claim myself and thought wtf...these guys are allowed to "brew" beer and sell it for people to drink. The shitty part was when I turned to the person next to me, to try to get agreement on how ridiculous that advertisement was, I could see in their eyes that they thought I was the odd one for calling out the anomaly.
     
    Scrapss, Bung and BMBCLT like this.
  4. JuicesFlowing

    JuicesFlowing Initiate (0) Jul 5, 2009 Kansas

    The actual taste of the beer is even more annoying than the commercial.
     
  5. Heritage_Pub_StPtWI

    Heritage_Pub_StPtWI Initiate (0) Nov 28, 2012 Wisconsin

    The beer tastes good to me, but the commercials are creepy. The stores and bars in this area are returning the product in droves...would have been a good summer beer if they'd timed the roll-out for May instead of February and had better marketing...
     
  6. drtth

    drtth Initiate (0) Nov 25, 2007 Pennsylvania
    In Memoriam


    It means the Miller advertising and marketing crew is finally getting the message that Miller/Coors are losing more market share to Distilled Spirits than they are losing to other beer brands. Large numbers of Baby boomers and other groups of alcohol consumers with some money to spend are switching their alcohol consumption away from beer to drink Distilled Spirits such as Bourbon, Vodka, etc.
     
    #6 drtth, Jun 13, 2014
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2014
  7. markdrinksbeer

    markdrinksbeer Initiate (0) Nov 14, 2013 Massachusetts

    Aren't ice beers (natural ice, bud ice, keystone ice, etc) freeze "distilled"?
    Perhaps the marketing is to let those people know it has a clean finish, but didn't go through freeze distillation to increase the alcohol content?
     
    EConnOG likes this.
  8. Beric

    Beric Initiate (0) Jun 1, 2013 Massachusetts

    Ice beers, especially Eisbocks, are made stronger through "fractional freezing". This process, where you essentially make a beer slushy (freeze a fraction of the beer), then drain the beer and throw away the ice, is considered a form of distillation by the US government because it is a process that increases alcohol strength without relying on natural yeast metabolism to convert sugars into ethanol. This process concentrates alcohol by removing water (ice) from the distilled liquid since alcohol does not have a freezing point of 32F/0C. You repeat this cycle until your liquid is as strong as you desire, but it's important to calculate for the volume you'll loose over time. This is why craft made Eisbocks (though technically illegal) sell for so much- because through fractional freezing, a 100 barrel batch of beer will quickly yield not so many barrels of Eisbock.

    Ice beers like Keystone Ice also have higher alcohol contents due to freezing, but they undergo much less freezing than an Eisbock.

    As for Miller Fortune, seeing someone sip a bourbon colored beer from a rocks glass gets me every time. Like a spirits drinker would go for that. As far as marketing goes, this is another clear case, as several others have pointed out, of Big Beer marketing their beers as innovative by taking advantage of ignorant consumers and marketing actual brewing techniques common to most, if not all beer brewing. If you think all your alcohol comes from distillation, you should probably read a book about your favorite alcohol and learn about your little yeast friends and how the process always starts with them farting out ethanol. But "undistilled" sure sounds better than "slightly higher concentrated yeast fart."
     
  9. Ieatlambfries

    Ieatlambfries Maven (1,310) Dec 5, 2003 New Jersey
    Trader

    I'm going to have to agree with you on that one. Lol.
     
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  10. Boca-X

    Boca-X Initiate (0) Jan 21, 2014 Missouri

    Sometimes I'm amazed at the pettiness of it all...there are a lot of things going on in the world that are truly important...BMC commercials are not one of them. If people were as passionate about each other as they were about their hobbies and/or obsessions maybe everyone wouldn't be so jaded...:stuck_out_tongue:...come on man, can't we just all get along? :grinning:
     
  11. Brew33

    Brew33 Initiate (0) Oct 24, 2007 Ohio

    Why do they pour it into a rocks glass?
     
    RobertColianni likes this.
  12. mychalg9

    mychalg9 Pooh-Bah (2,061) Apr 8, 2010 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I'm guessing they say it is "undistilled" because they've been pushing the "drink this beer in a rocks glass" idea. They are trying to get you to subconsciously liken this beer to a much, much more sophisticated drink.
     
    RichardMNixon likes this.
  13. otispdriftwood

    otispdriftwood Initiate (0) Dec 9, 2011 Colorado

    Whenever a commercial annoys me, I change the channel and Voila!, the annoyance is gone. Try it.
     
    bubseymour likes this.
  14. markdrinksbeer

    markdrinksbeer Initiate (0) Nov 14, 2013 Massachusetts

    Why is that any different than a tulip, pint glass, snifter, wine glass, mug, pilsner glass, etc?
     
  15. Beric

    Beric Initiate (0) Jun 1, 2013 Massachusetts

    Well generally a rocks glass won't hold a whole 12oz bottle of beer, and at the ever-so-strong 6.9% I'm pretty sure pouring it all in to one glass won't get you massively shitfaced. It's not like you need to sip the damn thing unless it literally tastes like ass.
     
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  16. Raucey

    Raucey Initiate (0) Nov 26, 2013 Virginia

    Yea man I don't find this petty at all. The primary function of the BA forums is to discuss topics such as this.
    I work in marketing and I think it's incredibly interesting. Sure, you can change the channel but the commercial still exists and millions of people are going to be influenced by it in some way or another. Some might shake their heads and ignore it but if it works as it's intended to, then some - maybe many - will spend their dollars on more BMC product because of an ad that is capitalizing on the viewers' naivety.
     
  17. paulys55

    paulys55 Initiate (0) Aug 2, 2010 Pennsylvania

    This commercial reminds me of that terrible commercial for 1800 Tequila where the other actor guy turns the bottle upside down and pours a shot into the lid. This commercial was clearly marketed towards complete idiots because if you have ever tried it (which I did before that commercial ever came out) you would know that it doesn't work...unless you like sucking the tequila out of the 'cork'. End rant. Point is, they are not marketing this towards consumers looking for quality craft beers.
     
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  18. Raucey

    Raucey Initiate (0) Nov 26, 2013 Virginia

    But I do think they are going after consumers that are at the very least interested in craft beer. It seems like an attempt (in terms of both marketing and the product itself) to retain the customers who are gravitating toward craft beer AND spirits. I totally get it and, as a business that wants to remain profitable, they have every right to do this. What is unnerving about the whole thing is their exploitation of their viewers' lack of knowledge through the use of seemingly sophisticated, yet arbitrary industry language (triple hops brewed, un-distilled, etc).
     
  19. frazbri

    frazbri Initiate (0) Oct 29, 2003 Ohio

    You gotta love when marketing touts common ingredients and processes as unique to a product. It's almost as fun as when they make up terms that are pure nonsense.
     
    cavedave, Providence and Raucey like this.
  20. Orca

    Orca Grand Pooh-Bah (4,441) Sep 18, 2010 Washington
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Screw that. Why should I be forced to change the channel because a stupid commercial pops up in the middle of my favorite programming? Better just to bitch about it on the Internet.
     
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