Coors Organization / History

Adolph Coors established his brewery in 1873 in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Golden, Colorado, about 20 miles west of Denver.

Adolph Coors Company is the holding company for its principal subsidiary, Coors Brewing Company. Adolph Coors Company has no operation or employees of its own. The holding company's common stock (ticker symbol: RKY) is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and is listed in major newspapers, generally alphabetically under "CoorsB.

Adolph Coors Company is ranked among the 1,000 largest publicly traded corporations in the United States, based on annual sales. Coors Brewing Company is the nations third-largest brewer.

In 1977, Coors produced only one brew, Original Coors. Today, Coors' brand portfolio comprises about two dozen malt beverages.

William K. Coors is chairman of Adolph Coors Company. Peter H. Coors is vice-chairman and chief executive officer of Coors Brewing Company. W. Leo Kiley III is president and chief operating officer of Coors Brewing Company.

The Coors Golden brewery is the world's largest on a single site and remains in the same Rocky Mountain foothills location where Adolph Coors established his brewery in 1873. Coors purchased its second brewery in 1990 in Memphis, Tennessee. Since 1987 the company has operated a packaging facility in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, near the town of Elkton. Some of the beer Coors brews in Golden is shipped by rail to Shenandoah in insulated tank cars and then blended, finished, packaged and distributed.

Free tours of the Golden and Memphis breweries are offered daily except Sundays and holidays. More than 250,000 visitors tour Coors' breweries each year.

Coors is a partner in the nation's largest aluminum can manufacturing plant in Golden, Colorado, and a glass bottle manufacturing plant in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

Coors has a long history of inovation. The company introduced the country's first two-piece aluminum beverage can in 1959. That same year, Coors launched a recycling revolution by offering a penny for each can returned to the company.