By Bobby Tanzilo Senior Editor/Writer Published Dec 06, 2021 at 4:24 PM

Snuggle up with some holiday cheer as OnMilwaukee shares stories of everything merry and bright in the spirit of the season.

Brought to you by Noel Indoor Light Park & Christmas Market and MillerCoors. 

For the first time in six years, Molson Coors will not sell Miller High Life in 750ml “Champagne” bottles for the holidays.

It’s unclear if the celebratory packaging will return in the future.

The bottles were first launched as a test in the Chicago market in 2016. The next year, the Milwaukee area got them, too. The big bottles, which sold for around $3.49, went national in 2018.

They were also released in 2019 and 2020, but not this year.

"Instead of Champagne bottles this year, we opted for holiday-themed packaging with the festive tagline, ‘Holiday Cheers with The Champagne of Beers’," says spokesman Marty Maloney.

"The packs also have QR codes on them, which people can scan to enter a sweepstakes for free High Life for a year."

The discontinuation comes on the heels of the Miller Valley being officially dubbed “The Champagne of Beer Region” in June by the Milwaukee Common Council.

As far as whether you'll see the Champagne-style bottles again, it seems as though the door hasn't closed. Never say never.

In other High Life news, the gingerbread dive bar sets that were released on Monday sold out immediately.

"Thank you to everyone who made the High Life part of their holidays this year," reads a social media post. "We reached capacity faster than expected.  Sign up for our email list for updates on when the High Life Gingerbread Dive Bar Kit is back open for business."

According to a spokesperson for Molson Coors, the sets sold out within two minutes of going on sale.

 

Bobby Tanzilo Senior Editor/Writer

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.

He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.

With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.

He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.

In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.

He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.