Coors Brewing Company

All you want to know about Coors Brewing Company

Coors Brewing Company
Location Golden, Colorado,
United States
Owner(s) Molson Coors Brewing Company
Year opened 1873
Annual production $5 billion U.S. in sales
Active beers
Coors Original American macro lager
Coors Light Light beer
Coors Extra Gold Light beer
Blue Moon Belgian style wit beer
Keystone American macro lager
Keystone Light Light beer
Keystone Ice American macro lager
Killian's Irish Red American Red Lager

The Coors Brewing Company is a regional division of the world's fifth-largest brewing company, the Molson Coors Brewing Company. According to the Molson-Coors website, [2] the division is the third-largest brewer in the U.S. The brewery in Golden, Colorado is the world's largest on a single site.

Contents

History

The Coors Brewing Company is the principal subsidiary of the Adolph Coors Company. In 1873, German immigrants Adolph Coors and Jacob Schueler, a successful Denver businessman, established a brewery in Golden, Colorado. Coors invested $2,000 in the operation, to Schueler's investment of $18,000. In 1880, Coors bought out his partner in "The Golden Brewery". His pale lager, nicknamed the "Banquet Beer" or "Premiums" and is now known as "Coors Banquet" once again after being dubbed "Coors Original" for many years. It is said to take its flavor from the pure water of the Rocky Mountains. Coors' company survived the prohibition era in America by diversifying into manufacture of other products including malted milk and ceramics. The Coors Ceramics business was later spun off as CoorsTek.

According to the Coors website, in 1959, Coors became the first American brewer to come in an all-aluminum two-piece beverage can. In the early 1970s, Coors replaced the common "pull tab" opener on its aluminum cans with a new two-hole top, one large hole for drinking and one small hole for venting. All one had to do was simply push down on the perforated "lids" to open them. Also, Coors had a "wide-mouth" quart bottle with the opening approximately three times the width of a conventional quart bottle.

For much of its history, Coors beer was a regional product mostly confined to the American west by legal restrictions. This made it a novelty on the east coast, and visitors returning from visits to the western states often made a point of bringing back a case. This iconic status was reflected in pop culture: in 1977 the movie Smokey and the Bandit centered on an "illegal" shipment of Coors from Texas to Georgia. Boston Red Sox great Carl Yastrzemski was such a big Coors fan that when he loaded up the team plane with multiple cases of Coors for the return trip to the East Coast, some of his teammates jokingly wondered if the plane would be able to successfully take off.[1] The company finally established nationwide distribution in the U.S. in the early 1990s.

Coors brewery in Golden, Colorado
Coors brewery in Golden, Colorado

In 2003, Coors was the third largest producer of beer in the United States, and the second largest brewer in the United Kingdom through its subsidiary, Coors Brewers Limited. There it controls the UK's most popular brew, Carling, as the result of that brand's merger with Canadian brewer Molson in 1989.

On July 22, 2004 the company announced it would be merging with Molson. The merger was completed February 9, 2005 and the merged company is called Molson Coors Brewing Company. In August 2004, Coors Brewing Company announced plans to add brewing capacity to the Shenandoah beer packaging facility in Elkton, Virginia, by early 2007. [2] Coors officials stated that this would "bring brewing capacity much closer to our important East Coast markets and distributors."

The Coors family members have played a prominent role in American politics and public policy, supporting many conservative causes, including providing a $250,000 grant in 1973 to found The Heritage Foundation,[3] one of the world's most influential conservative public policy research institutes, and, via its parent company, the right-leaning think tank American Enterprise Institute. Chairman Pete Coors ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate from Colorado in 2004 on the Republican ticket.

Labor issues

In April 1977, the brewery workers union at Coors, representing 1,472 employees, went out on strike. The brewery kept operating with supervisors and 250 to 300 union members, including one member of the union executive board, who ignored the strike. Soon after, Coors announced that it would hire replacements for the striking workers.[4] About 700 workers quit the picket line to go back to work, and Coors replaced the remaining 500 workers, and kept making beer uninterrupted.[5] In December 1978, the workers at Coors voted by greater than 2:1 to decertify the union, ending 44 years of union representation at Coors. Because the strike was by then more than a year old, striking workers could not vote in the election.[6]

Labor unions organized a boycott to punish Coors for its labor practices.[7] One tactic was to push for state laws to ban sales of unpasteurized canned and bottled beer.[8] Because Coors was the only major brewer not pasteurizing its canned and bottled beer, such laws would hurt only Coors.[9] Sales of Coors suffered during the 10-year labor union boycott, although Coors said the declining sales were also due to an industry-wide downturn in beer sales, and to increased competition. To maintain production, Coors expanded its sales area from the 18 western states to which it had marketed for years, to nationwide distribution.[10]

The AFL-CIO ended its boycott of Coors in August 1987, after negotiations with Pete Coors, head of brewery operations. The details were not divulged, but were said to include an early union representation election in Colorado, and use of union workers to build the new Coors brewery in Virginia.[11] In 1988, the Teamsters Union, which represented brewery workers at the top three U.S. beer makers at that time (Anheuser-Busch, Miller, and Stroh), gained enough signatures to trigger a union representation election. Coors workers again rejected union representation by more than 2:1.[12]

Minority issues

A Federal Lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1975 ended in a settlement with the company agreeing not to discriminate against blacks, Mexican-Americans, and women.[13]

Coors encouraged the organization of its gay and lesbian employees into the Lesbian and Gay Employee Resource (LAGER) in 1993.[14] In May 1995, Coors became the 21st publicly-traded corporation in the United States to extend employee benefits to same-sex partners.[15] When company chairman Pete Coors was criticized for the company's gay-friendly policy during his 2004 Republican primary campaign for the US Senate from Colorado, he defended the policy as basic good business practice.

Product lines

United States

Coors Light ad on a Toronto building

Coors is responsible for over twenty different brands of beer[16] in North America. The most notable of those brands are:

  • Coors, the "Banquet Beer", also known as "Coors Original", a 5% abv pale lager. This is the oldest brand in the Coors portfolio, first brewed in 1874[17], and has been given awards at World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and at the Great American Beer Festival in 2004[17].
  • Coors Light, the "Silver Bullet", a 4.2% abv beer first brewed in 1978 as a low calorie beer. It is Coors' top selling brand, and the third-best selling beer in the United States[18]. It has won several medals for "American-Style Light Beer" at the Great American Beer Festival[19], and is the official beer sponsor of the NFL and the NFL Network.[20]. In 2006, a "frost brew liner", referring to the "Frost Brewed" branding, was introduced. The nickname "Silver Bullet" originated at the University of California Alumni Association summer family camp, The Lair of the Golden Bear, where staff members coined the casual reference to the iconic slender silver cans. The previous marketing campaign mentioned how Coors Light was frost brewed with a frost brewed liner and then shipped via refrigerated rail cars and trucks. The current campaign is a bottle that has mountains that are blue when the beer is in proper drinking temperature. The name was then immortalized when one of the former members of the camp staff used it as a marketing campaign and the name has stuck ever since. Coors Light puts on major promotions at Halloween, including the "Beer Wolf" and plugs by Elvira, tying in with the Silver Bullet theme. Coors Light bottles feature a cold temperature sensitive label using Chromazone ink. When the mountains on the label turn blue, the beer is at optimal drinking temperature.
A bottle of Killian's Irish Red.
  • Keystone is a 4.8% abv pale lager introduced in 1989. The current slogan is "Always Smooth."
Keystone Light
  • Keystone Light is a 4.2% abv pale lager introduced in 1989. Packaged in "specially lined cans" intended to reduce metallic taste. The can is blue and silver and is narrower than a regular 12 ounce can of beer. An advertising campaign starring comedian Bob Marley claimed that Keystone Light relieved "Bitter Beer Face." The current advertising slogan is "Always Smooth, Even When You're Not."[22]
  • Keystone Ice is packaged in similar cans as Keystone Light, but with black and silver instead of blue. Keystone Ice is 5.9% abv and has 143 calories vs 109 in Keystone Light.
Others
  • Zima XXX
  • Pale Moon (made under Blue Moon Brewing Company label)
  • Rising Moon (seasonal - spring) (made under Blue Moon Brewing Company label)
  • Honey Moon (seasonal - summer) (made under Blue Moon Brewing Company label)
  • Harvest Moon (seasonal - fall) (made under Blue Moon Brewing Company label)
  • Full Moon (seasonal - winter) (made under Blue Moon Brewing Company label)
  • Winterfest (seasonal - winter)
  • Wildwood Westlake lager
  • Coors NA (Coors Non-Alcoholic)
Discontinued
  • Aspen Edge
  • Blair's Barvarian Beer
  • Coors Malted Milk (non-alcoholic, formula later acquired by Mars Candy)
  • Coors Red Light
  • Coors Extra Gold Light (now sold as Extra Gold Lager omitting the Coors name)
  • Coors Dry (western US only)
  • Coors Artic Ice
  • Coors Cutter (non-alcoholic)
  • Eisbock (seasonal - spring)
  • Golden Lager
  • Herman Joseph's 1868 (now relaunched by AC Golden Brewing Company as Herman Joseph's Private Reserve)
  • Oktoberfest (seasonal - fall)
  • Turbo 1000
  • Weizenbier (seasonal - summer)
  • Zima Gold

UK

Beers
  • Allbright
  • Arc
  • Breaker
  • Caffrey's Irish Ale; (After Coors purchased Caffrey's from Interbrew, it ceased importation of the beer into the U.S. market. Coors decided that continued sale of Caffrey's in the U.S. market would interfere with branding of Killian's as Coors' premier Irish brew. Many Irish bars around the U.S. have Caffrey's paraphernalia but no longer can sell the beer. Coors' decision to sell Killian's over Caffrey's in the US market while removing the nitrogen charged Caffrey's allowed Diageo Guinness to gain marketshare with its Smithwick's brew in Irish bars throughout the U.S.).
  • Carling
Stones orange can
Others
  • Reef
  • Screamers
  • Java (discontinued March 2004) was an alcopop range with five flavours; Purple, Ice, Tropical, Citrus and Sunfruit. A vodka mix of 4.0% vol.

Joint venture with SABMiller

On October 9, 2007, SABMiller and Molson Coors Brewing Company announced a joint venture to be known as MillerCoors for their US operations that will market all of their products.[23]

Business name

  • Schueler & Coors, Golden Brewery (1873–1880)
  • Adolph Coors, Golden Brewery (1880–1913)
  • Adolph Coors Co., Golden Brewery (1909–1913)
  • Adolph Coors Brewing and Malting Company, Golden Brewery (1913–1915)
  • Adolph Coors Company (1933–1989)
  • Coors Brewing Company (1989–2008)
  • Molson-Coors (2004–2008,Parent Company of CBC)
  • Miller-Coors (2008–present, Joint Venture)

CEOs

Sponsorships

Coors sponsored Premiership side Chelsea FC 1995–1997, while current sister Carling was title sponsor of the Premier League from 1993–2001 and currently sponsors the Football League Cup. The two brands also sponsor Rangers and Celtic. The clubs have worn uniforms with Coors Light logos for exhibitions in North America, while elsewhere the uniforms promote Carling, which is not offered in the U.S.

"Official" beer sponsor of the NFL and NASCAR.[24]

Coors and/or Molson are beer sponsors of the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, Detroit Red Wings, Phoenix Coyotes and all six Canadian teams. The company owns 20% of the Montreal Canadiens; Colorado's George Gillett owns the other 80%.

In addition to its official NASCAR sponsorship, Coors Light has regularly sponsored cars in the series, most recently for Chip Ganassi Racing. Drivers to have Coors backing have included David Stremme, Bill Elliott, Robby Gordon, Sterling Marlin, and Kyle Petty.

Coors holds the naming rights to Coors Field in Denver, Colorado, home of the Colorado Rockies baseball team.

The Coors Events Center on the campus of the University of Colorado at Boulder in Boulder, Colorado is named after Coors.

Coors has sponsored English rugby league side Workington Town from the 2007 season, as well as the Belfast Giants.

See also

References

  1. ^ The Meaning of Yaz - Sons of Sam Horn
  2. ^ Coors to build brewery at Shenandoah, Modern Brewery Age, August 16, 2004
  3. ^ Russ Bellant, The Coors Connection: How Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Democratic Pluralism, Political Research Associates, 1990, p. 21
  4. ^ "Adolph Coors Company (A)" (pdf). Business Case, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College. Retrieved on 2006-04-24.
  5. ^ Dana Parsons, Why did strikers return?, Denver Post, 3 October 1979, p,3.
  6. ^ Karen Newman, Coors workers reject union by big margin, Rocky Mountain News (Denver), 15 December 1978, p.1 c.2.
  7. ^ Union at Coors May Be Broken But It Hasn't Halted Its Boycott, The New York Times, May 28, 1979, p. A7
  8. ^ Coors union backing Calif. beer roadblock, Denver Post, 5 December 1977.
  9. ^ Bill before Missouri legislature would ban Coors, Denver Post, 2 November 1984.
  10. ^ Bartell Nyberg, Coors brewing for long-term survival, Denver Post 22 February 1987, p.1G, c.1.
  11. ^ AFL-CIO ends 10-year Coors boycott, Denver Post, 19 August 1987.
  12. ^ Jeffrey Leib, Coors workers reject union, Denver Post, 16 December 1988, p.1A.
  13. ^ "Adolph Coors Company (A) (PDF)". Business Case, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College. Retrieved on 2006-04-24.
  14. ^ Justin Berton, The other Coors spokesman, Westword (Denver) 2 September 1999, p.28.
  15. ^ Michael Booth, Coors adds 'partners' to benefits,Denver Post, 8 July 1995, p.1A.
  16. ^ Coors Brewing Company (MolsonCoors)
  17. ^ a b Coors.com
  18. ^ Coors.com - Facts & Figures
  19. ^ Coors Light Fact Sheet
  20. ^ http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story/9185753 NFL.com "Coors Light to present NFL Network's Super Bowl week coverage."
  21. ^ George Killian's Irish Red
  22. ^ Keysone Light Web Site
  23. ^ [1]
  24. ^ reportonbusiness.com: Coors Light takes over as NASCAR's best bud

Academic books

  • Baum, Dan. Citizen Coors: A Grand Family Saga of Business, Politics, and Beer. New York: HarperCollins, 2000. ISBN 0-688-15448-4

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coors_Brewing_Company"

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