… that is known as Miller Time … when you deserve a beer break today.
None of this makes sense unless you know the advertising slogans: It’s Miller Time (for Miller High Life beer, not for novelist Henry Miller, playwright Arthur Miller, or bandleader Glenn Miller), You Deserve a Break Today (for McDonald’s, hawking hamburgers, not beer). But Calvin knows:
(#1) The Calvin and Hobbes strip distributed today, originally published 10/9/86, alluding to “Miller Time” slogans in Miller High Life beer commercials from the period
Calvin is supposed to be 6 years old — admittedly, with the sensibilities of a boy of roughly 10, but, still, not expected to be familiar with the ways of beer-drinking, so his father is alarmed that Calvin seems to be looking forward to a brew after the occupations of his day. (Whatever happened to the Children’s Hour? Television happened.)
(“Comes a pause in the day’s occupations, / That is known as the Children’s Hour” — “The Children’s Hour” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, first published 1860)
A “Miller Time” ad from the period:
(#2) It’s all about personal connections — over a beer — after a hard day at work
About the beer. From Wikipedia:
The Miller Brewing Company is an American brewery and beer company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Molson Coors acquired the full global brand portfolio of Miller Brewing Company in 2016, and operates the Miller Brewery at the site of the original Miller Brewing Company complex.
… Miller High Life: This beer was put on the market in 1903 and is Miller Brewing’s oldest brand. High Life is grouped under the pilsner category of beers and is 4.6% abv [alcohol by volume].
About the advertising slogans. from the Molson Coors Beer & Beyond site, “”If you’ve got the time”: The history of the High Life beer jingle”, by Erik Brooks, on 1/10/17:
In 2016 Miller High Life brought back a jingle that’s been on the minds of many Americans since the ’70s. … “If you’ve got the time, we’ve got the beer — Miller Beer.”
… It started with another familiar slogan — “Miller Time,” a High Life campaign that was the brainchild of the late Bill Backer and ad agency McCann-Erickson. (Today “Miller Time” is most associated with Miller Lite, though it was created for High Life.)
… The “Miller Time” campaign [from 1971] ran till 1982, when it was replaced by “Welcome to Miller Time,” co-written by Backer and featuring another catchy jingle
The company ceased using the Miller Time slogan at some point, but revived it in the 21st century. (The history of the interim period might be in an Ad Age article on the revival of the slogan, but the article’s behind a pay wall.)
Before Miller Time, there was the slogan The Champagne of (Bottle(d)) Beer(s) — for its high level of carbonation.
I’m not a cognoscento in this domain; it’s entirely possible that Calvin knows more about Miller beers than I do (though I do know a tasteless joke about Miller Lite: Q: What’s the difference between beer piss and Miller Lite? A: The Miller Lite is carbonated.). My personal taste was for British bitter (pale ales) and dark beers, but mostly ran to wine rather than any kind of beer (but I haven’t drunk alcohol since early November of last year).
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