A Brief History of Coors
Adolph Coors was 26 years old when he opened his brewery in Golden, Colorado, in 1873.
Adolph learned his craft as a brewer's apprentice in his native Germany. He came to the United States as a penniless stowaway in 1868 and headed west, arriving in the Colorado Territory with a dream of opening his own brewery.
On a visit to Golden, west of Denver in the foothills of the Rockies, Adolph found natural springs that produced perfect brewing water. It was here that he built his brewery, the Golden Brewery, in 1873.
Adolph was an expert brewer with an unwavering devotion to producing only the highest quality, finest tasting and most refreshing beers. It was this commitment that made the brewery an immediate success.
While Coors is known for using only the finest brewing water, making the best beers requires the best barley as well. Coors developed its own varieties of two-row barley that are grown exclusively for Coors at high altitude by farmers in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. The passion for brewing and commitment to quality and service established by Adolph Coors can be found today in the men and women who brew and sell Coors products. This heritage of brewing excellence remains the hallmark of Coors Brewing Company.
Coors Brewing Company employs approximately 8,500 people worldwide.
In the United States, Coors has breweries in Golden, Colorado, and Memphis, Tennesee, and a packaging facility in Shenandoah, Virginia. The Golden brewery is the largest single-site brewery in the world with Coors Light being the global flagship brand.
In 2002, Coors acquired the England and Wales business of Bass Brewers and created Coors Brewers Limited (CBL), the United Kingdom's second largest brewer with more than 20% market share. With the number one brand in the UK, Carling, CBL is a solid presence in the seventh largest market in the world. The company employs approximately 2,500 people in the UK, 9,500 worldwide and has breweries in Burton, Alton and Tadcaster.
