The connection between BBQ, grilling, and beer is a long, passionate love affair. The two activities are as intertwined as watching sports and drinking beer, fishing and drinking beer, sitting on a patio and drinking beer, relaxing at the beach and . . . well, you get the idea. Now, a new collaboration between Miller Lite and the grill brand Big Green Egg is further formalizing this relationship.
Dropping May 28, the Big Green Kegg is a quarter-barrel keg-size holder that perfectly matches the iconic green outer shell and shape of the Big Green Egg. Thanks to the Kegg’s ceramic chamber, just a little ice will keep your beer cold from first light to that last steak.
Miller Lite’s director of marketing Anne Pando says the brand reached out to Big Green Egg earlier this year about a possible collab. “It was an easy yes for both brands,” says Pando. “While you’re grilling at the perfect heat on your Big Green Egg, your matching Big Green Kegg is keeping the great taste of Miller Lite ice cold, so Griller Time always tastes like Miller Time.”
Griller Time continues
This is just the latest effort by the beer brand to inextricably link itself to summer BBQ season. In 2022, Miller Lite launched Beercoal—beer-infused charcoal—and Grill Share, bike share-inspired grill rentals in New York and Chicago. Last year, it was Beer Cubes, a custom ice cube tray, made for freezing beer in little beer-can-shaped ice cubes that will fit into an open pop-top can.
The Big Green Kegg ($350), takes things up a notch. Given Big Green Egg’s cult following of grill nerds, here Miller Lite is taking a big swing to win over an audience that may typically lean heavier into craft IPA territory. But the beer brand did it right, and went right to the source.
“Miller Lite knows Big Green fans are serious about their favorite grill, so it was important to us that we got Big Green Egg’s seal of approval and input on design,” says Pando. “We developed the Big Green Kegg with the iconic Big Green Egg kamado shell that grillers know and love, so that it looks and feels similar to their favorite grill, just with a Miller Time twist.”
Now it’s Big Green Kegger time.