8 fun facts about Coors Brewing you probably didn't know
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Peter Coors, the fifth generation of the family to work in the brewery, gives a behind-the-scenes tour of the Golden plant. Photo: John Frank/Axios
Take a walk through the 150-year-old brewery with a Coors family member, and you can learn plenty that doesn't make the official tour script.
What to know: Here are 8 fun facts for your next beer trivia night:
1. Coors employees could drink during their shifts until the mid-'80s, when workplace safety norms shifted.
- Yes, but: Employees can still get Coors Light in the lunchroom after their shift ends; limit two per day.
2. Technically, Coors no longer uses Rocky Mountain spring water for its beers, Peters Coors says.
- The brewery sits on a giant aquifer and pulls most of its water for brewing from underground wells, rather than springs closer to the surface.
- A portion of the plant's water is pulled from the Clear Creek that runs through the brewery, but used for cleaning and other tasks.
3. Coors Light brewed in Golden has a distinct taste compared with the same beer brewed at the company's other breweries. Likewise, Miller Light brewed in Golden tastes different from the Milwaukee versions.
- The Golden beers are a touch more estery (fruity notes) because of the brewing equipment used.
- Yes, but: You probably wouldn't notice unless you are a trained super-taster.
4. About 70% of the Coors beer made in Golden goes into cans, up from 60% a few years ago. Bottles account for less than 25% and kegs are now down below 10%.
- Fun fact: Coors Light cans sink to the bottom of a cooler, while others float because they are slimmer and have less air space at the top.
5. Coors' beautiful old-world copper brew kettles — the star of any tour at the Golden brewery — are actually made with stainless steel. Copper is a softer metal and the original material eroded. (The tops remain copper, mostly for aesthetics.)
6. 15% of the beer produced at the Golden brewery is sent by train around the country, up from 10% in recent years.
- A train car can hold three times what a truck can carry.
- Trivia: At midnight on the day Prohibition ended in 1933, Coors had a train loaded with full-strength beer ready to roll to California the second it was legal.
7. Coors Banquet's famous stubby bottle was introduced in 1936 as a way to save on shipping costs and pack more beer in trucks. Also, the long-neck bottles were prone to break during travel.
- Yes, but: Initially beer drinkers rejected them, thinking they were getting less beer than the traditional bottles.
8. True to Coors' legacy of environmental thinking, 99% of the brewery's waste is recycled. The glass goes to its recycler in Wheat Ridge, while aluminum goes to manufacturer Alcoa. The grain used in brewing is sent to local ranches as cattle feed.