Coors Brewing Company

Lore & Background

Coors was founded in 1873 by German immigrants Adolph Coors and Jacob Schueler, who bought a recipe for a Pilsner-style beer from a Czech immigrant, William Silhan. Coors invested $2,000 and Schueler $18,000. In 1880, Coors bought out his partner and renamed the firm the Adolph Coors Golden Brewery. The brewery adopted a conservative growth strategy, spending only about $0.70 per barrel on advertising, far less than national brewers. Its flagship beer is described as Czech or Pilsner-style, part of the tradition that began with Josef Groll’s 1842 brew. Coors maintained that the beer’s quality, derived from Bohemian lineage and the soft alpine water of Clear Creek, necessitated local refrigeration rather than pasteurization. By the turn of the century, the brewery was the largest in the state. During Prohibition, the brewery survived by converting to malted milk and near beer production, relying on a porcelain company and other ventures. After Prohibition, Coors was one of only a handful of breweries that had survived. For much of its first 100 years, Coors beer was marketed solely in the American West, giving it mystique and making it a novelty on the East Coast. This iconic status was reflected in the 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit. In 1959, Coors became the first American brewer to use an all-aluminum two-piece beverage can and abandoned pasteurization for sterile filtration. Coors Light was introduced in 1978, with the slogan 'Silver Bullet' referring to the silver can. In 2004, Adolph Coors Company announced a merger with Molson, completed in 2005, forming Molson Coors Brewing Company.

Reader's Guide

Coors Brewing Company holds a distinctive place in American beer history for its regional mystique, technological innovations, and labor controversies. For over a century, its beer was only available in the American West, creating a cachet that made it a sought-after novelty elsewhere, famously depicted in Smokey and the Bandit. The company pioneered the all-aluminum two-piece beverage can in 1959 and later invented the litter-free push tab can, though it was discontinued due to consumer dislike. Coors also abandoned pasteurization in favor of sterile filtration, a practice that made it unique among major brewers and later became a target of union boycotts. The brewery survived Prohibition by diversifying into malted milk and near beer, a feat few breweries achieved. Labor disputes in the late 1970s led to a decade-long union boycott, during which Coors expanded to nationwide distribution, completing it in 1991. The company also faced discrimination lawsuits and boycotts from Mexican Americans and gay rights activists, eventually becoming the first major U.S. brewery to commit not to discriminate against homosexuals and to extend benefits to same-sex partners. Today, as a subsidiary of Molson Coors, it remains one of the largest brewers in the United States, operating the world's largest single-site brewery in Golden, Colorado.

Did You Know?

• The brewery survived Prohibition by producing malted milk and near beer, selling malted milk to the Mars candy company.
• Coors Light's 'Silver Bullet' slogan refers to the silver-colored can, not the beer itself.
• The first Coors brewery in Golden is the largest single site brewery operating in the world.