Editing Coors Brewing Company (section)

== History ==

=== Founding ===
In 1873, [[Germany|German]] [[Immigration|immigrants]] [[Adolph Coors]] and [[Jacob Schueler]] from [[Prussia]] immigrated to the United States and established a [[brewery]] in what was then Golden City, [[Colorado Territory]] (now [[Golden, Colorado|Golden]], Colorado), after buying a recipe for a [[Pilsner]]-style beer from a Czech immigrant William Silhan.<ref>{{cite web |date = December 12, 2014 |url = http://www.historycolorado.org/content/beer-here-local-history-brewing-history-colorado |title = Beer Here! A Local History of Brewing at History Colorado |publisher = History Colorado |access-date = June 9, 2015 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150605081309/http://www.historycolorado.org/content/beer-here-local-history-brewing-history-colorado |archive-date = June 5, 2015 |df = mdy-all }}</ref> Coors invested $2,000 in the operation, and Schueler invested $18,000. [[File: "ADOLF COORS GOLDEN BREWERY" June 1911 map detail, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Golden, Jefferson County, Colorado. LOC sanborn01005 006-11 (cropped).jpg|thumb| "ADOLPH COORS GOLDEN BREWERY" June 1911 map detail from Sanborn Fire Insurance Map]] In 1880, Coors bought out his partner and became the sole owner of the brewery.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

=== Prohibition ===
[[File:Coors malted milk ad.png|thumb|right|upright|Ad for Coors [[malted milk|Malted Milk]], produced in 1918]]

The Coors Brewing Company managed to survive [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] relatively intact. Years before the [[Volstead Act]] went into effect nationwide, Adolph Coors established the Adolph Coors Brewing and Manufacturing Company, which included [[CoorsTek |Herold Porcelain]] and other ventures, with sons Adolph Jr., Grover and Herman. The brewery itself was converted into a [[malted milk]] and [[Low-alcohol beer|near beer]] production facility. Coors sold much of the malted milk to the [[Mars, Incorporated|Mars]] candy company to produce sweets. Manna, the company's non-alcoholic beer replacement, was a near-beer similar to current non-alcoholic beverages. However, Coors and his sons relied heavily on the porcelain company and a cement and real estate company to keep the Coors Brewing Company afloat. By 1933, after the end of Prohibition, the Coors brewery was one of only a handful of breweries that had survived.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Klein|first=Christopher|title=How America's Iconic Brewers Survived Prohibition|url=https://www.history.com/news/brewers-under-prohibition-miller-coors-busch-yuengling-pabst|access-date=2021-07-03|website=HISTORY|date=January 30, 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

All of the non-brewery assets of the Adolph Coors Company were spun off between 1989 and 1992. The descendant of the original Herold Porcelain ceramics business continues to operate as [[CoorsTek]].<ref>{{cite web |title = History of CoorsTek |url = http://www.coorstek.com/history.asp |access-date = May 19, 2009 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090817143619/http://www.coorstek.com/history.asp |archive-date = August 17, 2009 |df = mdy-all }}</ref>

=== Products ===
For much of its first 100 years of existence, Coors beer was marketed solely in the [[Western United States|American West]].<ref name=bplspok>{{cite news |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0B4jAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xvgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2174%2C3162303 |newspaper = Spokane Daily Chronicle |title = Brewer plans Spokane plant |date = December 27, 1975 |page = 3.}}</ref><ref name=cpbrexp>{{cite news |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-0wyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BOYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1787%2C254410 |newspaper = Lawrence Journal-World |location = Kansas |title = Coors plans beer sales expansion |agency = Associated Press |date = August 2, 1977 |page = 8 }}</ref><ref name=kpsitcl>{{cite news |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qhRWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B-IDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4949%2C76665 |newspaper = Eugene Register-Guard |location = Oregon |title = Beer keeps its cool but raises hot issue |last = Stahlberg |first = Mike |date = December 1, 1978 |page = 1B }}</ref> While [[California]] and [[Texas]] were part of the 11-state distribution area, [[Washington (state)|Washington]] and [[Montana]] were not added until 1976<ref name=bplspok /><ref name=add2momt>{{cite news |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uz5PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UQIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6869%2C3940352 |newspaper = [[The Blade (Toledo, Ohio)|The Blade]] |location = Toledo, Ohio |last = Lazarus |first = George |agency = KNS |title = Coor's beer adds two more states to market area |date = September 28, 1976 |page = 31 }}</ref> ([[Oregon]] did not approve sales in grocery stores until 1985).<ref name=alasact>{{cite news |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fOdVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VuEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6256%2C195249 |newspaper = Eugene Register-Guard |location = Oregon |title = Alas, another Coors tale |agency = (editorial) |date = October 2, 1984 |page = 10A }}</ref><ref name=csupose>{{cite news |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jYVUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LI8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2900%2C904948 |newspaper = Ellensburg Daily Record |location = Washington |agency = UPI |title = Coors steps up Oregon sales effort |date = October 5, 1984 |page = 9 }}</ref><ref name=cmatfrs>{{cite news |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CK1VAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mOEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6732%2C2367789 |newspaper = Eugene Register-Guard |location = Oregon |title = Coors making another try for retail sales in Oregon |last = Detzel |first = Tom |date = April 11, 1985 |page = 12D }}</ref><ref name=croio>{{cite news |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=W-5VAAAAIBAJ&sjid=g-EDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4611%2C5148732 |newspaper = Eugene Register-Guard |location = Oregon |title = Coors rolls out in Oregon |date = July 23, 1985 |page = 5A }}</ref> This gave it mystique and made it a novelty, particularly on the East Coast,<ref name=cafrcrggy>{{cite news |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=svgzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SCMIAAAAIBAJ&pg=4378%2C4555519 |newspaper = Bangor Daily News |last = Mills |first = Dennis |title = Cold Coors arrives from craggy Rockies |date = August 14, 1975 |page = 21 }}</ref><ref name=sccrbr>{{cite news |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8ORLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=A4sDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6763%2C2903203 |newspaper = Free Lance-Star |location = Fredericksburg, Virginia |title = The strange case of the Coors beer |last = Greene |first = Bob |agency = Field Newspaper Syndicate |date = June 22, 1977 |page = 2 }}</ref> and visitors returning from the western states often brought back a case.<ref name=chmys>{{cite news |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=MEdNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8voDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5443%2C3066611 |newspaper = Lakeland Ledger |location = Florida |title = Coors has mystique |agency = (New York Times) |date = March 12, 1975 |page = 7B }}</ref> This iconic status was reflected in the 1977 film ''[[Smokey and the Bandit]]''. The company finally established nationwide distribution in the United States in 1986.<ref name=cgampdr>{{cite news |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Eq9RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9W0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4142%2C839228 |newspaper = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |title = Coors goes after more Pennsylvania beer drinkers |last = Gallagher |first = Jim |date = April 5, 1988 |page = 18 }}</ref> 

In 1959, Coors became the first American brewer to use an all-[[aluminum]] two-piece [[beverage can]].<ref name="Oliver266" /> Also in 1959, the company abandoned [[pasteurization]] and began to use [[sterile filtration]] to stabilize its beer.<ref name=" Oliver266"/><ref name=cafrcrggy /> Coors currently operates the largest [[aluminum can]] producing plant in the world, known as the Rocky Mountain Metal Container (RMMC), in Golden. RMMC is a joint venture between [[Ball Corporation|Ball Metal]] and Coors, having been founded in 2003.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

In the mid-1970s, Coors invented the litter-free push tab can,<ref name=cafrcrggy/><ref name=presstb>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LahfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XzIMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2657%2C8150347 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho) |agency=(advertisement) |title=Press-Tab |date=December 21, 1976 |page=8B}}</ref> in place of the ring pull-tab.<ref name=ptcget>{{cite news |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pDAcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rlkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3915%2C2555046 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Press |agency=(''Chicago Daily News'' Service) |title = Pull-tab cans get heave-ho |date=October 6, 1975 |page=17}}</ref><ref name=poptoplose>{{cite news |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=G-EjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fSkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1664%2C5732868 |newspaper = Milwaukee Journal |last = Hayes |first = Paul G. |title = Poptop cans will lose their pull, expert says |date = October 19, 1977 |page = 1 |access-date = October 26, 2015 |archive-date = May 15, 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160515155321/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=G-EjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fSkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1664,5732868 |url-status = dead }}</ref> However, consumers disliked the top and it was discontinued soon afterward.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

[[Coors Light]] was introduced in 1978.<ref name=" Oliver266"/> The longtime slogan of "Silver Bullet" to describe it does not describe the beer, but rather the silver-colored can in which Coors packaged the beer. Coors once produced Coors Light in "yellow-bellied" cans like the full-strength Coors. However, when the yellow coloring was removed, the can was left mostly silver.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

{{multiple image|direction=vertical
| image1 = Coorsgoldencityscape.jpg
| image2 = CoorsbrewerygoldenCO.jpg
| footer = Coors brewery in [[Golden, Colorado]]
}}

=== Mergers ===
On July 22, 2004, the [[Adolph Coors Company]], the [[holding company]] that owned Coors Brewing, announced it would be merging with Canadian brewing company [[Molson]], Inc. The merger was completed February 9, 2005, with the merged company being named [[Molson Coors Brewing Company]].<ref>{{cite web |date = July 22, 2004 |url = https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/molson-announces-6b-us-merger-deal-with-coors-1.517665 |title = Molson announces $6B US merger deal with Coors |publisher = CBC |access-date = October 10, 2020}}</ref> Coors Brewing Company became a subsidiary of the new company. Due to the merger, [[Molson Coors]] was rated the third largest producer of [[beer in the United States]], and the second largest brewer in the [[United Kingdom]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.molsoncoors.com/fact/index.html |title = Fact Sheet |date = 2005 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071027064623/http://www.molsoncoors.com/fact/index.html |archive-date = October 27, 2007 |publisher = Molson Coors Brewing Company }}</ref>