Miller High Life's Genius Solution To Drinking With Friends In 2020

Finding the time to get together with friends and enjoy a beer can prove tough even in a normal year, but factor in a global pandemic and your regular happy hour seems downright impossible. Despite the changes to our lives, we haven't given up drinking — whether we have Zoom happy hour with friends or socially distance in our backyards with a couple of beers, American alcohol consumption has spiked by 27% since the coronavirus turned life upside down (via USA Today).

As fall turns to winter, states have begun stepping up their safety precautions to fight the disease, further limiting any hope of having a traditional happy hour with friends (via CNN). While some of us have to stay at home, for the time being, that shouldn't stop us from socializing over a few pints of beer.

In a statement made to Mashed, it's clear Miller High Life has heard our pleas for a return to safe social drinking and introduced wifi-enabled coupe glasses, so we can toast friends from afar. These stylish glasses connect to your home's wifi source and run on a rechargeable battery. Once the glasses connect to the internet and power up, you can toast friends and family from afar by pressing the front button on the glass to initiate a "cheers." This action sends a signal to your friend's wifi-enabled coupe glass — they just have to press the same button and both coupes light up for a socially distanced toast.

Now you can safely toast during the holiday season

According to Miller High Life's statement, each glass can activate four different LED light sequences in a multitude of colors — wifi setup, invitation to cheers, cheers, and idle mode. The coupes stay lit up in idle mode as long as they have power, inviting friends to cheer as long as you are ready to toast along. Each coupe comes with instructions on how to operate the glass and anyone interested in ringing in the holidays with a fun new way to drink can pick up some coupes at MHLToastsFromAfar.com starting on Dec. 15. The limited-edition coupes go for $19.03, so make sure to grab a pair while supplies last!

Your new coupes wouldn't come complete without an alcoholic beverage to complete the toast, and luckily, Miller has a plan. High Life plans to bring back their 750 mL champagne-style bottles with the coupes, so you really can celebrate with the "champagne of beers" and keep spreading joy this holiday season.

"We wanted to find a way to keep people connected over the holidays," Katie Lombardi, Miller High Life marketing manager, said. "As The Champagne of Beers, we believe in celebrating life's simple moments with the ones we love, even if they're a million miles away. The Miller High Life Holiday Coupe Glasses are the perfect solution to a problem we're all facing this holiday season. We're glad we're able to do our part to spread a little cheer while creating an innovative way to toast with those special people in our life."