ScotCo's relaunched Miller lager font pours the head separately
Scottish Courage has introduced an innovative new dispense system as part of a £7m relaunch of its American draught lager, Miller.
The head injection tap (HIT), claimed to be a world first in beer dispense, separates the processes of pulling the pint and creating a head and is designed to reduce wastage and improve pint presentation.
After pulling a pint as normal, stopping 8ml from the top of the glass, barstaff press a gold button at the top of the font to dispense a tight head from a separate nozzle - with the whole pint-pouring process lasting 16 seconds from start to finish.
Kerr Arthur (pictured), marketing manager for Miller Brands, said: "Improving pint quality continues to be the Holy Grail in the lager market and Scottish Courage has developed and patented this cutting-edge technology to tackle an age-old problem and bring draught lager into the 21st century."
He added: "Beer wastage, through fobbing and frothing, is a major problem and the HIT significantly reduces this while improving consistency in the glass. It's extremely easy to use and offers major trade benefits by increasing the wanting rather than the waiting."
The HIT dispense, which Scotco claims improves yield by two per cent, spearheads a major repositioning programme for the brand. A new chrome font has replaced the old design and the "pilsner" tag has been jettisoned to accentuate the brand's American credentials.
"The European sounding name jarred with what we were trying to do and we realised that we needed to play more on the strengths of the brand's American provenance," said Mr Arthur.
He added that with an ABV of 4.2 per cent, Miller bridges the gap between the standard and premium lager markets. "Miller offers standard lager drinkers who don't want to go premium in both price and ABV an opportunity to trade-up to a midpoint brand."
A staff-dedicated website, www.hitmiller.co.uk, has also been designed to explain the HIT process step-by-step.