“Miller High Life Champagne bottle vending machine arrives in New York” by Peter Frost, Behind the Beer

Miller High Life’s limited-edition Champagne bottles now have a custom vending machine to showcase their distinctive look, and it has landed in New York.

The Champagne of Beers, which for the second consecutive year released 750-milliliter bottles for the holiday season, is holding three bar events this week in the city to toast the holidays, each of which feature the new vending machine.

At the first event last night, a few dozen fans waited in line outside the bar, eager to get their limited-edition bottles, says Nigel Jones, marketing manager for the brand. “That excitement continued throughout the night, with people ordering High Life as their post-work drink of choice and posting a ton of great images on social media. The 150 bottles we brought to the event didn’t last long.”

Wrapped in navy blue and emblazoned with Miller High Life branding featuring the Girl in the Moon, the machine is stocked with Miller High Life Champagne bottles, which are given out as prizes to the first 150 people who arrive to the events.

“Around the holidays, we started to see Champagne companies installing these upscale vending machines at high-end hotels in places like Las Vegas, New York and New Orleans,” Jones says. “But to us, it started to feel a bit too high class. Vending machines were built to be accessible to everyone, so we decided to find a way to give the Champagne of Beers its own vending machine.”

The public relations splash is aimed to “create excitement around the brand and get people talking about our Champagne-sized bottles during the holidays,” Jones says.

The 25.4-ounce limited-edition bottles began rolling into retailers nationwide in November. That followed a successful launch last year that boosted the brand’s sales in bars, restaurants, grocers and liquor stores across the country. Retailers that sold the Miller High Life Champagne bottles in 2018 reported a 4.9 percentage point lift in dollar sales versus stores that did not, with volume trends up in both on- and off-premise channels, Jones says.

Redesigned for 2019, the collectible bottles are in their fourth year. They debuted in Chicago in 2016 and rolled out for a two-market test in Chicago and Milwaukee in 2017. With necks wrapped in gold foil sealed with the Girl in the Moon logo, the heavy-gauge bottles have a long, narrow neck and broad shoulders embossed with “The Champagne of Beers” in raised glass letters. The primary badge on this year’s version is more reminiscent of Miller High Life 12-ounce bottles with a slight diagonal orientation framed in gold and green.

They retail for between $2.99 and $3.99 in the off-premise and also are available in select bars, taverns and restaurants.

“It’s great to see the excitement so far around the release of our Champagne bottles,” Jones says. “We got off to a great start in November, and events like this are sure to remind both long-time fans and newcomers to the brand that High Life is the perfect beer for holiday get-togethers.”