The History of Coors

It was a typical fall day in Golden, Colorado.  People going about their business on November 14, 1873 hadn't the faintest idea of what was being born in the now abandoned Golden City Tannery.  German immigrant Adolph Herman Joseph Coors invested $2,000 to go in with Jacob Schueler on a venture that would change the world of beer in America as we know it.  This is the story of Coors, The third largest beer brewer in the United States, and now a regional division of the fifth largest brewing company in the entire world.  Above all things, Coors is known for their creation and operation of the single largest brewing facility in the entire world.

Adolph Kuhrs was born in northwestern Germany

Adolph Kurhs was born on February 4, 1847 in Barmen, Prussia which is now part of Germany.  At the age of 15, both of his parents died, leaving him orphaned.  He was an apprentice for a brewery owned by Henry Wenker at the time and completed his apprenticeship to become a paid employee of the Wenker Brewery in Dortmund.  He continued to work for the Wenker Brewery until May of 1867.  He then worked for three breweries in Kassel, Berlin, and Uelzen to finish out the year.

Early the next year, Adolph Kuhrs immigrated to the United States, arriving in New York City.  He then made his way to Chicago, IL where he arrived on May 30, 1868.  His name changed from Adolph Kuhrs to Coors when he arrived in the States, a name that would live in fame in centuries to come.  Coors never forgot his origins, always finding himself in a brewery.  In the spring of 1868, he would work as a laborer, but in the summertime, he worked as a brewer.  During the fall and winter, he worked as a fireman, loading coal into the firebox of a steam engine. 

Naperville was home to Coors for 4 years

During the spring and summer of 1869, Adolph became an apprentice bricklayer and stone cutter but returned to brewing once again on August 11, of the same year when he became the foreman of John Stenger's Brewery in Naperville (Naperville is the neighboring town to me, so I literally live down the street from beer history!).  His tenure at Stenger's Brewery had been his longest at any job he had had in the United States to that point, but on January 22, 1872, Adolph Coors submitted his resignation and began his journey west.

After a couple of gigs in Denver, Colorado, Adolph finally began what would root him into the profession he had always known- for the rest of his life.  He paid $2,000 against the $18,000 investment of Jospeh Schueler to found the Schueler & Coors company on November 14, 1873.  The once defunct Golden City Tannery had been converted to brew beer, and the company sold its first beer in February of 1874.  Six years later, Adolph Coors purchased Schueler's interest in the company, renaming it the Adolph Coors Company.

Adolph Coors had married Louisa Webber the prior year, and their first of eight children was born on March 2, 1880.  Two of their sons had died in infancy, and three daughters and three sons survived to become adults.  The Coors Company would be passed onto these children and remain family owned and operated until 2006.

October 28, 1919- The Volstead Act was passed, making alcohol illegal and crushing the beer industry in the United States.  Only a handful of breweries would survive Prohibition, and Coors was one of them.  The Golden Brewery was converted to produce malted milk and near beer- beer's disgusting non-alcoholic brother.  Although Coors was selling their malted milk to Mars as well as having a near beer division, Adolph Coors and his sons relied on the real estate and porcelain industries to keep the company alive.

On June 5, 1929, Adolph Coors jumped from a hotel window in Virgina Beach, VA, taking his own life.  After having made beer his entire life and being ripped from his profession, I believe that his depression and the way he missed the fine art of brewing may have contributed.  Sadly, it was only four years later in 1933, Prohibition came to an end, allowing the company to produce what they made best once more., and perhaps  Adolph Coors would have changed his mind had this happened sooner.  The Coors Family held onto Coors's non beer related divisions, which were spun off into CoorsTek in 1989. 

The Golden Brewery is the largest beer brewing facility in the world

Until the mid 1980s, Coors was a regional product due to legal restrictions that limited Coors sales to the West.  Due to this fact, Coors became an iconic beer and was highly regarded by the East.  Travelers from the eastern states would bring the beer back as a novelty item.  In 1977, Coors was at the center of the plot for the movie Smokey and the Bandit, in which the main characters were taking an illegal shipment of Coors from Texas to Georgia.

The company had begun its international sales eighty years earlier, with their first beer shipment outside of the United States being to Korea.  Augusta, the second daughter of Adolph Coors had moved to Korea with her husband, Herman Collbran who had taken a job as Korea's national transportation adviser- a position that is believed to be what led to the sales of Coors in Korea.

Coors underwent two mergers, the first one being with Molson, and the second one with Miller.  The company is now known as MillerCoors, which is the second largest brewing company in the entire world, with the Molson-Coors division being the fifth largest brewery.  The humble beginnings of a lone, orphaned immigrant from Germany contributes to many of the great beers that we enjoy today.  Thank you Adolph Kurhs- without you I wouldn't have my Blue Moon Belgian White Ale, and that would make me a very sad camper!

Golden, Colorado- home of the Golden Brewery

Therefore, I raise my glass to the legacy of Adolph Kurhs, now known as Coors.  Next time you enjoy a refreshing Coors product, take a second yourself as well to remember the great legacy of the Coors name, and then, well- have another beer.

Also, a thank you to all of you who have read or shared my blog.  If this is your first visit to the blog, please make sure to share with others or subscribe so that you can see future articles and beer reviews.  There is a link right under my picture that you can use to share this on Facebook.  Just click on the jargon about CyberNations and it will let you type in something else.  For some reason it wants to share whatever is at the very top of the blog.  Also, to subscribe, click on the Follow button right underneath the circulating ad underneath the share on Facebook link.

Lastly, this blog takes a lot of work and research, so please visit one of the google ads that you see on this blog.  The proceeds actually go to this blog, so it only takes a second, costs nothing, and it helps provide me with some beer money in the process.  Thanks again for reading, and keep drinking good beer!