Miller
There aren’t many people who want to go out of their way to smell like a dive bar based on the aroma you’re typically treated to inside one of those dimly lit watering holes. However, that hasn’t stopped Miller High Life from whipping up a cologne inspired by one, and it seems to have more promise than you’d probably think.
I consider myself an Equal Opportunity Drinker who doesn’t really discriminate when it comes to the atmosphere and ambiance I’m treated to when I’m in the mood for an adult beverage (or four).
I’ll happily pay more than I should for a bespoke cocktail containing multiple ingredients I’ve never heard of, am equally content sucking down a pitcher of light beer at a sports bar, and am certainly not above throwing back some sugary drinks at a chain restaurant where a good chunk of the food is prepared in a microwave.
With that said, my preferred vibe is definitely the dive bars where the beer-and-a-shot specials flow like the waters of Niagara Falls courtesy of the bartenders who act like doing their job is the ultimate inconvenience.
There’s no standard definition for a dive bar, but it’s definitely a “You Know It When You See It” situation. You could just as easily describe it as a “You Know It When You Smell It” one thanks to a combination of scents that typically involve cigarette smoke that spent decades seeping into every surface, the beer dried on the strangely sticky floors, stale popcorn. and that undefinable but unmistakable odor of despair and broken dreams.
I’d argue a dive bar can’t truly call itself a dive bar if it’s not stocked with an ample supply of the kind of beer that just tastes like, well, beer, and it’s hard to beat a cold bottle of Miller High Life when it comes to checking that particular box.
High Life has routinely leaned into that association with stunts like a gingerbread dive bar and the ice cream bars inspired by the dingy haunts, and the brand is once again branching out with the cologne it’s dubbed “Dive Bar-Fume.”
The dive bar-inspired scent boasts notes of cedarwood and patchouli that pay tribute to the wooden bartop, the tobacco and leather that serve as nods to “worn-in barstools,” sea salt drawing from an order of greasy fries, and champaca blossom meant to call to mind the aroma of High Life.
The cologne is a limited run of bottles that will sell for $60 a pop. They’ll initially go on sale at noon on December 4th with two additional drops scheduled for the same time on Thursday and Friday.
I was pleasantly surprised by the whiskey-inspired fragrance Monkey Shoulder whipped up a couple of years ago, so I’ll be very curious to see how this one stacks up.