Chocolate beer is here for all you chocolate lovers

**singersp** · 10-12-2006, 07:52 PM

[size=13pt]Move over eggnog, here's chocolate beer [/size]

Miller to offer new flavored lager during the holiday season

By TOM DAYKIN
tdaykin@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 11, 2006

Miller Brewing Co. is launching a new chocolate-flavored brand for the holiday season as the company seeks to capitalize on the growing thirst for craft and specialty beers.

The new beer, Frederick Miller Classic Chocolate Lager, is brewed with six different malts, including chocolate and dark chocolate malts. It will be sold from October through December in Wisconsin, Chicago, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Valparaiso/northwest Indiana, Miller said Wednesday.

The beer will be sold in four packs of 12-ounce bottles, and be marketed for holiday gift giving and party offerings. The suggested retail price is $5.99 for a four-pack.

Chocolate Lager is the second holiday season beer that Miller has developed in recent years, said company spokesman Pete Marino. In 2005, Miller introduced 1855 Celebration Lager to mark the company's sesquicentennial.

Chocolate Lager's sales will be tiny compared to those of Miller Lite, High Life and Miller's other mainstream brands. But it will appeal to the growing number of drinkers who are turning to craft and specialty beers, Marino said.

"There is a lot of fragmentation going on," Marino said. "Consumers are looking for more niche products."

Anheuser-Busch Inc., the nation's largest brewer, has launched several regional and seasonal beers in recent years. Also, a Miller subsidiary, Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co., has its own seasonal beers, include Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest and Leinenkugel's Apple Spice.

The nation's craft beer segment reported an 11% sales volume increase during the first six months of 2006, according to the Brewers Association, that segment's trade group. That follows a 9% sales increase in 2005.

Marino said Miller's brewmasters continually experiment with different recipes at the Milwaukee pilot brewery. That facility, which opened six years ago, allows Miller to efficiently brew and test new products in small batches.

Chocolate Lager was developed a year ago, and was entered in the 2005 Great American Beer Festival under the name Temptation Bock, Marino said. Temptation Bock won a gold medal in the festival's herb and spice beer category, and this year won the category's bronze medal under the Chocolate Lager name.

It makes sense to promote Chocolate Lager as a holiday beer, Marino said.

"People indulge themselves on holidays," he said.

From the Oct. 12, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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[img width=170 height=600]http://graphics.jsonline.com/graphics/bym/img/oct06/lager1101206.jpg[/img]

**singersp** · 10-12-2006, 07:55 PM

??? I wonder if too much of it will give you the schlitz?

**The Dropper** · 10-12-2006, 07:57 PM

The company I distill spirits for has made a chocolate beer for years. It's really tasty. Click here for more details:

http://www.rogue.com/brews.html#chocolate

**WBLVikeBabe** · 10-12-2006, 07:59 PM

hmm interesting.
I love chocolate but not a big fan of beer, maybe I'll like this stuff.

**BadlandsVikings** · 10-12-2006, 07:59 PM

Does it come with milk?

**fabybaby32** · 10-12-2006, 08:24 PM

Sounds interesting.
I bet you get really full off of them though.
Not a big chocalate fan.
Beer should taste like Beer!
Its a cool idea though

**BadlandsVikings** · 10-12-2006, 08:27 PM

I'll start drinking beer when it tastes like Mt. Dew.

**singersp** · 10-12-2006, 08:48 PM

"WVV" wrote:

I'll start drinking beer when it tastes like Mt. Dew.

Do you not know what Mountain Dew does to your teeth? Of all the sodas out there, Mountain Dew is the worst you can drink as far as your teeth are concerned.

Do you want to look like your in-laws?

[img width=361 height=233]http://www.doctorspiller.com/images/Caries/Caries3.jpg[/img]