The American West

          From humble beginnings

 Adolph was born in 1847 in Barmen, Prussia, a place now known as Wuppertal, Germany. Soon after, the family moved to the nearby city of Dortmund where there was plenty of work for Adolph's father, a master flour miller. From the age of 13, Adolph apprenticed with local tradesmen, including a printer and bookbinder. At 14, he found what would become his life's work when he began an apprenticeship at the Henry Wenker Brewery in Dortmund.

The following year was a tragic one for Adolph and his younger brother and sister. First their mother and then their father died. For Adolph, his position at the brewery now became more than training, but a means of survival. As a brewer's apprentice, he received food, clothing and a place to live. Of equal importance, the 36-year-old son of the brewery's owner became the boy's mentor. It's believed that Adolph also earned a little money for himself by working nights as the brewery's bookkeeper. This added to his knowledge of brewing and passion for his craft, helping him to become savvy about the bottom line.

Adolph continued to work in the brewing industry until he was 21, when war and unrest in his country caused him - like half a million other Germans - to seek opportunity in America. Stowing away on a ship, Adolph arrived in the United States - probably New York - in 1868 with no money and no job. What he had was a dream - a brewery of his own.

Heeding Horace Greeley's then popular refrain, "Go West, young man, go West," Adolph began his journey across America. The young immigrant earned his living along the way as a bricklayer, stonecutter and laborer before hiring on as the foreman at the Stenger Brewery in Naperville, Illinois, in late 1869. As the story goes, the brewery proprietor had three daughters and saw his new foreman as a future son-in-law. Apparently, Adolph was not intrigued with this prospect. After a two and one half year stay, he continued westward.

Working his way on the railroad, Adolph came to Denver, Colorado, in 1872 ready to pursue his dream in earnest. Within a month, he had purchased a partnership in a Denver bottling company and by year's end, he was its sole owner. For many people, this would have been enough. Not for Adolph. Brewing was in his blood.

On Sundays, his only day off, he walked around the town of Golden, in the foothills west of Denver, enjoying the landscape and planning his brewery. Although it was a time when wide-eyed fortune hunters combed the Colorado Rockies in search of gold, Adolph's thoughts were on treasure of a different kind - water, the key ingredient for the perfect beer.

He found it in the rich Clear Creek valley just east of Golden, where cool springs bubbled over in abundance among the willows. Here, at the site of an abandoned tannery on the banks of the creek, was the perfect location to launch his new enterprise.

       The dream comes to life

In 1873, three years before Colorado became the 38th state, Adolph joined with Jacob Schueler to open "The Golden Brewery." Schuler, one of his bottling customers, provided $18,000 for the venture, while Adolph, now just 26 years old, contributed his $2,000 savings, his expertise and his enthusiasm.

Adolph proved he not only knew how to brew good beer, he also knew how to market it. He shipped beer by train and in wagons pulled by mules to thirsty miners in the foothills. He sent in boxcars to early settlers of other western territories. In less than a year, the business was turning a profit. And by 1880, the company was so successful that Adolph was able to buy out his partner and become the brewery's sole owner.

By 1890, the brewery's annual output had grown to 17,600 barrels (a barrel is 31 gallons), up from just 3,500 barrels 10 years earlier. The company was now firmly established. Over the next decade it would thrive despite a national depression, a devastating flood and the growing threat of Prohibition.

        Surviving Prohibition

On January 1, 1919, Prohibition became a reality in Colorado. By 1920, it had spread to all states. Working together, Adolph and his three sons found ways to keep the brewery open and their operations profitable during what became 18 long, dry years.

The family's porcelain business in Golden, established prior to prohibition, blossomed. Orders for its highly regarded products - from cooking ware to scientific items - came from around the country. The brewing equipment was kept busy making several popular food products, including malted milk and a near-beer called Mannah.

Coors was more fortunate than most US brewers. Of the 1,568 breweries operating in 1910, only 750 reopened after Prohibition was repealed in 1933.

            Back to brewing

Although Adolph died in 1929 before Prohibition ended, he lived long enough to know his company would not only survive, but prosper. His son, Adolph Jr., assumed control of the business and when Prohibition was repealed, beer flowed through the Golden brewery once again. In the first year after production resumed, the company produced more than 136,000 barrels.

Until Prohibition, Coors beer was distributed in just a few isolated markets, including Denver, San Francisco, Wyoming and New Mexico. But the company's fame had spread much farther. The time was now right to compete with some of the hundreds of regional brewers then operating. The six years following repeal saw Coors successfully expand its market to include 10 Western states. During that period, the simple slogan that would serve the company for the next 50 years first appeared. The slogan? "Brewed with Pure Rocky Mountain Spring Water."

World War II brought new challenges for Coors. Although wartime rationing slowed many industries, beer was viewed as important to the morale of U.S. troops. So, the government made special allowances to assure breweries could buy enough barley and other materials for continued production. In return, Coors and other brewers aided the war effort by setting aside half of all beer production for sale to the military. The beer produced throughout the war years was a little different - alcohol content was 3.2 percent, down from 4.6 percent prior to the war.

In 1945, the year the war ended, Coors produced 300,000 barrels of beer, double the prewar level. During the next decade, sales continued to climb, topping 1 million barrels in 1955.

Quality and innovation - the cornerstone of Coors' prosperity

It was during this postwar period that Coors and other brewers began to experiment with various types and sizes of packaging. Although kegs and bottles were still the primary means of selling beer, customers were looking for added convenience. A major breakthrough came in 1959, when, after several years of development, Coors introduced the country's first all-aluminum beverage can. That same year, the company launched a recycling revolution by offering a penny for every can returned to the brewery.

The success of the aluminum can increased demand for Coors beer even further. Moreover, it encouraged the company, now under the direction of third-generation Bill Coors, to continue to develop new technologies for use in the brewing process.

Ongoing technological innovations went hand in hand with the company's growth during the 1960's and 1970's, and several successful subsidiary companies were created during that time to expand and market those technologies.

     Expanding domestically and overseas

Coors' transition from a regional to international brewer began in the 1970's when the company started expanding both its product line and distribution. Until then, Coors produced only one beer, the original Coors Banquet Brand, for distribution in just 11 Western states.

Coors' limited distribution left consumers in the eastern United States clamoring for a taste of the Rocky Mountains' finest beer, and many of them went to great lengths to experience what became known as "the Coors mystique." Former President Gerald Ford was known to return from his "western White House" in Colorado accompanied on Air Force One by several cases of Coors.

As flattering as the Coors mystique was, however, monumental changes were taking place within the U.S. brewing industry and among consumers. Coors needed to change its business strategy and expand its distribution to survive this changing marketplace. Increased beer advertising, new brands directed to specific market segments, conveniences such as non-returnable bottles and a growing interest in reduced-calorie beverages were among the trends shaping the industry.

In response to these trends, in 1978, Coors introduced the popular Coors Light brand - dubbed The Silver Bullet - which was destined to become one of the country's best-selling beers. Since then, the company has successfully introduced a wide array of superior quality mainstream and specialty beers.

As expansion progressed, distribution crossed the Mississippi River in 1981. A decade later, Coors was in all 50 states. With the growing national demand for its products, Coors broke ground for a new packaging facility in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley in 1985. The location was selected after an exhaustive search for water with the same high-quality characteristics as the water in Golden's Clear Creek valley. In 1990 came the purchase of a brewery in Memphis, Tennessee, a city also renowned for its superb water. Here, the company began to brew beer with the same Coors quality and century-old tradition that consumers had grown to love.

Under the direction of fourth-generation Peter Coors, the company began the decade of the '90s by reaching a long-sought goal of becoming the nation's third largest brewer and experiencing the fastest volume growth rate in the industry. Not only that, but the company started expanding internationally, eventually making its products available in Japan, Canada, Greece, the United Kingdom, Spain, South Korea and other countries. Coors products are sold in more than 30 foreign markets.

In 1992, with national expansion complete, significant organizational changes began to take place. The successful technology-based subsidiaries were spun off into a separate publicly traded corporation. Early the following year, for the first time in the company's history, a non-family member was appointed as president and chief operating officer of Coors Brewing Company, reporting to Chief Executive Officer Peter Coors.