Coors Light

Lore & Background

In 1941 Coors introduced a lower-alcohol beer called Coors Light. The beer was discontinued after one year on the market. Coors Light was reintroduced in 1978 to compete with Miller Lite as a 'diet beer'. Coors markets its other product, Coors Banquet Beer as 'America's fine light' because it was lighter in body and color than other beers when it was introduced. This has created confusion between the Coors beers, despite the beers being of different recipes and calorie levels. This confusion has been aggravated by the marketing of Coors Light simply as Coors in Europe.

In Their Own Story

The evening air in Denver was crisp, carrying the faint scent of pine from the nearby foothills. A kid in a faded Rockies jersey stood at the railing in the left-field bleachers, his small hand gripping the cold metal as the ball left the bat with a crack that echoed off the glass walls. It hung there—longer than it should have, longer than physics at sea level would allow—before sailing over the wall and into the waiting arms of a stranger who scooped it up with a grin. The kid's father clapped him on the back. "That's the mountain," he said simply. The kid didn't need an explanation. He already knew. The ball had done what it always does here, and the whole stadium roared like a wind off the Rockies, and for a few seconds the city itself felt like it was part of the play.

Reader's Guide

Coors Light is brewed in Golden, Colorado; Albany, Georgia; Elkton, Virginia; Fort Worth, Texas; Irwindale, California; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, among other locations in the USA. The Canadian version is 4.0% ABV and brewed by Molson Coors Canada Inc. in Moncton, New Brunswick; St. John's, Newfoundland; Longueuil, Quebec; Toronto, Ontario; and Chilliwack, British Columbia. In Australia, the United Kingdom and Ireland, Coors Light is labeled as 'Coors'. Its primary competitors are Miller Lite, Keystone Light, and Bud Light.

Did You Know?

• The beer has a 'Cold Certified' label which turns the mountains on the label from white to blue when the beer's temperature is lowered to 39°F.
• In August 2013, advertising claims for Coors Light were referred to the FTC, including 'the world's most refreshing can' and 'beer on the inside, science on the outside'.
• Coors Light has sponsored numerous LGBT pride parades and events since 1998.
• In 2005, Coors Light won a silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival in the American-Style Light Lager category.