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Miller Brewing
Company is the second largest American style beermaker and is based in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It is owned by SABMiller. Miller
owns breweries in Albany, Georgia; Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin; Eden,
North Carolina; Fort Worth, Texas; Irwindale, California; Milwaukee,
Wisconsin and Trenton, Ohio.
History
Miller Brewing Company was founded in 1855 by Frederick Miller when he
purchased the small Plank-Road Brewery. The brewery's location in the
Miller Valley provided easy access to raw materials produced on nearby
farms.
On September 19, 1966, the conglomerate W.R. Grace & Co. agreed to
buy 53% of Miller from Mrs. Lorraine John Mulberger (Frederick Miller's
granddaughter who objected to alcohol) and her family. On June 12, 1969
Philip Morris (now Altria) bought Miller from W.R. Grace for $130
million, outbidding PepsiCo. On May 30th, 2002, it was acquired by
South African Breweries from Philip Morris for $3.6 billion worth of
stock and $2 billion in debt, to form SABMiller; with Philip Morris
retaining a 36% share at that time, with voting rights of 24.99%.
On August 14, 2006, Miller Brewing announced it had completed the
purchase of Sparks and Steel Reserve brands from McKenzie River
Corporation for $215 million cash. Miller had been producing both
products prior to this purchase.
On October 9, 2007, SABMiller and Molson Coors agreed to combine their
U.S. operations in a joint venture called Miller Coors. SABMiller is to
own 58% of the unit, which is to operate in the U.S. and Puerto Rico
but not Canada, where Molson Coors is strongest. Molson Coors is to own
42%, but the parties are to have equal voting power.
Brewery History
The oldest
brewery in the world still in operation is believed to be the Bavarian
State-owned brewery Weihenstephan, found in the German city of
Freising, which can trace its history back to 1040 Although the Zatec
brewery in the Czech Republic claims it can prove paying beer tax in
1004.
The industrialization of the brewery
Beer, in some form, can be traced back almost 5000 years to
Mesopotamian writings describing daily rations of beer and bread to
workers. Before the rise of production breweries the production of beer
took place at home and was the domain of women, as baking and brewing
were seen as "women's work". Breweries, as production facilities
reserved for making beer, did not emerge until monasteries and other
Christian institutions started producing beer not only for their own
consumption, but also to use as payment. This industrialization of
brewing shifted the responsibility of making beer to men.
Early breweries were almost always built on multiple stories, with
equipment on higher floors utilized earlier in the production process,
so that gravity could assist with the transfer of product from one
stage to the next. This layout is often preserved in breweries today,
but mechanical pumps allow more flexibility in brewery design.
Early breweries typically used large copper vats in the brewhouse, and
fermentation and packaging took place in lined wooden containers. Such
breweries were common until the Industrial Revolution, when better
materials became available, and scientific advances led to a better
understanding of the brewing process. Today, almost all breweries are
made of stainless steel.
Major technological advances
A handful of major breakthroughs have led to the modern brewery and its
ability to produce the same beer consistently.
The steam engine, vastly improved in 1765 by James Watt, brought
automatic stirring mechanisms, and pumps into the brewery. It gave
brewers the ability to more reliably mix liquids while heating,
particularly the mash, to prevent scorching, and a quick way to
transfer liquid from one container to another. Almost all breweries now
use electric-powered stirring mechanisms and pumps. The steam engine
also allowed the brewer to make greater quantities of beer, as human
power was no longer a limiting factor in moving and stirring.
Carl von Linde, along with several other people, is credited with
developing the refrigeration machine in 1871. Refrigeration allowed
beer to be produced year-round, and always at the same temperature.
Yeast is very sensitive to temperature, and if a beer was produced
during summer, the yeast would impart unpleasant flavors onto the beer.
Most brewers would produce enough beer during winter to last through
the summer, and store it in underground cellars, or even caves, to
protect it from summer's heat.
Most importantly, the discovery of microbes by Louis Pasteur was
instrumental in the control of fermentation. The idea that yeast was a
microorganism that worked on wort to produce beer lead to the isolation
of a single yeast cell by Emil Christian Hansen. Pure yeast cultures
allow brewers to pick out yeasts for their fermentation
characteristics, including flavor profiles and fermentation ability.
Some breweries in Belgium still rely on "spontaneous" fermentation for
their beers (see lambic).
The modern brewery
Breweries today are made predominantly of stainless steel, although
vessels often have a decorative copper cladding for a nostalgic look.
Stainless steel has many favorable characteristics which make it a
well-suited material for brewing equipment. It imparts no flavor in
beer, it reacts with very few chemicals, which means almost any
cleaning solution can be used on it (concentrated chlorine bleach being
a notable exception) and it is very sturdy. Sturdiness is important, as
most tanks in the brewery have positive pressure applied to them as a
matter of course, and it is not unusual that a vacuum will be formed
incidentally during cleaning.
Heating in the brewhouse is usually achieved through pressurized steam,
although direct-fire systems are not unusual in small breweries.
Similarly, cooling in other areas of the brewery is typically done by
cooling jackets on tanks, which allow the brewer to precisely control
the temperature on each tank individually, although whole-room cooling
is also common.
Today modern brewing plants perform myriad analyses on their beers for
quality control purposes. Shipments of ingredients are analyzed in
order to correct for variations; Samples are pulled at almost every
step and tested for oxygen content, unwanted microbial infections, and
other beer-aging compounds; and a representative sample of the finished
product is often stored for months for comparison when complaints are
filed.
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