19 August 2015 - Best Beer HQ
Top 7 facts about Coors
You’re drinking a Coors Light and you get to wondering: what do I know about Coors?
Well you’re in the right place. We’ve scoured the internet to bring you 7 facts about Coors beer and the company that brews it. Prepare to get educated…
1. It’s nearly 150 years old
Coors was founded in Golden, Colorado, in 1873 by German brewer Adolph Coors and business partner and investor Jacob Schueler. Schueler had an $18,000 stake in the business, until Coors bought him out in 1880.
2. Coors survived prohibition…
As you can imagine, prohibition was a tough time to be a brewery. Fortunately for the Coors Brewing Company, Adolph Coors and his sons had other business ventures to tide them over – including a manufacturing businesses.
Meanwhile, the Coors brewery starting churning out malted milk and near beer, a malt beverage that contained little or no alcohol. By the time prohibition ended, the Coors was just one of a handful of surviving breweries.
3. …but its founder didn’t
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Coors founder Adolph Coors, who committed suicide on 5 June 1929 by jumping from the window of the Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He was 82 years old.
It’s been said that he was depressed due to the effect prohibition was having on his business. However, others say it wasn’t a suicide at all, and that Adolph was pushed out that window.
4. Those Coors Light mountains are real
The iconic mountains featured on the Coors Light beer label are based off Wilson Peak in the San Juan Mountains, 11 miles west of Telluride in Colorado. It’s a popular skiing spot. Wilson Peak has also featured in advertising by Jeep.
5. It merged with Molson and then SABMiller
Canadian company Molson merged with Coors in 2005 to become the seventh largest brewer by volume, and then it merged again with SABMiller in 2007 to become the second-largest beer company in America.
6. The Coors brewery is the largest in the world
The MillerCoors Golden Brewery is the largest single-site brewery in the world, with a production capacity of 22 million barrels of beer.
7. MillerCoors is responsible for nearly 30% of US beer sales
That statistic is quoted by the all-knowing source of information on the internet: Wikipedia. But even if it’s untrue – and we have no reason to doubt it – there’s no denying that from such humble origins Coors has managed to grow into a HUGE business.
Among the MillerCoors family of beer brands is Miller Lite, Miller High Life, Blue Moon, Coors, Coors Light, Miller Genuine Draft, Molson Canadian, Hamm’s, and Crispin Hard Cider.