MILWAUKEE — Miller Brewing Company, now known as Molson Coors, has been brewing beer in Milwaukee’s Miller Valley since 1855. This year, they’re celebrating the golden anniversary of one of their most popular brands — Miller Lite — with a special commemorative can that’s already becoming a collector’s item.
Deep inside the Molson Coors Milwaukee headquarters is the Miller Brewing Archive, overseen by archivist Dan Scholzen.
“Lite is the most important brand in Miller’s sort of modern history,” Scholzen said.
The archive is like a callback in time, featuring 50 years of memorabilia — from the brand Miller purchased that gave birth to Miller Lite, Meister Brau Lite, to “beernaments,” taps from around the country, a rare collectible longhorn worth thousands of dollars, an actual hood from a race car, and dozens of cans and bottles.
“The bulk of the collection was here when I started, but I’ve acquired quite a bit of material over the years. I do have a budget that I use to fill the gaps in the collection,” Scholzen said.
The archive isn’t just Miller Lite. Miller’s other famous brands, including High Life, are well represented. As you walk through the halls and streets of the Miller Valley, you feel the history.
“I never take it for granted is probably the best way of putting it. It’s such a beautiful campus. We’re a busy brewery, though,” said Brad Long, who runs operations at the facility.
Long says while the process of making beer hasn’t really changed, the technology to make it more efficient has. And so has consumer taste. They make 42 different brands at the Milwaukee facility, including seltzers and other drinks.
Watch: Made in Wisconsin: Behind the scenes at Miller Brewing in Milwaukee
“Beer is still our core business, especially right here. But we’ve expanded to where the consumer is going, so we’re a total beverage company now,” Long said.
And they make a lot of beverages. Tour Operations Supervisor Jacob Rozema explains that even though they can hold about a million cases of product, they produce around 600,000 a day.
“I think it’s fair to say Wisconsin — there is no shortage of breweries — but I think outside of the products that we have and the history... just the scale and the appreciation for just how much beer we make,” Rozema said.
They measure beer production in barrels, each holding 31 gallons. At 9 million barrels a year, they produce 279 million gallons of beer every 12 months.
Which brings us back to the archives and the newest can on the shelf — a special gold Miller Lite tall boy.
“It’s the 50th anniversary, which is the golden anniversary, so we wanted to go big and bold. So it’s a 16 oz can and it’s gold,” Long said.
The can is already on sale and has become an instant collectible in the archives. It sits right next to cans including the iconic flat top you might have seen Bob Uecker taking a sip from. Just like Uecker, Miller is Milwaukee.
“There really is no way to tell the history of Milwaukee without talking about Miller. That’s one thing I discovered. Miller’s history is not just the history of this company, it overlaps with the history of Milwaukee as a city, Milwaukee’s manufacturing history, Milwaukee’s industrial history,” Scholzen said.
Currently, the archive is only available for private tours, but Scholzen says they hope to open it up to more people in the future.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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