Brewing Greatness

With more than 350 years of combined brewing heritage in the US, Canada, and the U.K, at Molson Coors we're more passionate than ever about making great beer.

We're a modern global brewer, but our approach is rooted in old-world craftsmanship. Like founding brewers John Molson, Adolph Coors and William Worthington, we're creative perfectionists who tinker until we get it right. We've won many international awards, but we never rest on yesterdays laurels. We're always working to perfect our established brands and develop relevant new ones to keep the brand fresh.

So what makes brewing greatness, anyway?

Dedicated Master Brewers

At Molson Coors, our master brewers at Molson, Coors Brewing Company, and Coors Brewers Limited steward our brewing traditions and inspire us to innovate. Their expertise in the art and science of brewing is evident in each of our award-winning brews. Many of our brewers are educated in biochemistry, biology, or engineering.

To ensure that brewing traditions are passed down through the generations, Molson Coors' seasoned brewmasters spend time to mentor up-and-coming brewers.

For example, Molson's brewer training program pairs apprentices with experienced brewmasters who teach them every aspect of brewing, from selecting raw materials to evaluating beer at different stages in the brewing process. Each apprentice hired into the two-year program rotates to nearly every job in the brewery, and some go on to specialized brewing schools in the US, Germany or England before returning to Molson.

Quality Ingredients

Good ingredients form the basis for good beer.

Molson Coors sources the finest available water, hops, barley, yeast and grains. And if we can't source it, we develop it ourselves: Coors developed a proprietary strain of two-row barley that yields a larger, higher-quality kernel that results in a more flavorful beer. Coors malts the barley on-site at its Golden brewery to ensure its premium characteristics are preserved.

Our approach to sourcing only the best extends to our suppliers. Molson exemplifies the Molson Coors approach, requiring suppliers to pass a rigorous quality audit prior to becoming approved. Even after suppliers are approved, Molson continues to monitor the integrity of the materials and ingredients they supply over time.

Longer Production Time

Quality can't be rushed.

At Coors Brewers Limited in the UK, for example, special attention is given to malting barley at varied temperatures to give each beer its own distinct color, flavor, and aroma. And where fermentation takes one week for most ales, Carling takes two.

At each of our breweries, Molson Coors brewers perform quality checks at every step in the brewing process. Highly-trained employees perform several types of evaluations (microbiological, analytical, and sensory) at different stages. And we let our beers mature until our expert tasters say they are ready to drink, with an average longer production time than many brewers in the industry.

Monitoring Freshness

Molson Coors takes such pride in our beer that we monitor its quality even after it's left the brewery. For example, Molson's retail quality team visits thousands of retail stores, restaurants and bars where Molson products are sold to check on freshness and overall quality. Products at regional distribution centers in the US, Canada, and the UK are also checked and rotated regularly for freshness.

And at Coors Brewing Company, a unique low-temperature filtering and sterile-fill system stabilizes the beer at the height of freshness without heating it through pasteurization. To protect against light damage, Coors beers are packaged in amber bottles and protective cartons. Bottles and cans have easy-to-read “sell by” date so freshness can be easily monitored. Bottles and cans never sit on store shelves for more than 112 days and kegs never exceed 45 to 60 days.

An Innovative Spirit

Innovation isn't for those who need a lot of down time.

Coors Brewers Limited brewmasters took more than 10 years and tried at least 1,000 recipes to develop Carling C2, a lower-alcohol version of Carling.

And at our pilot breweries at Molson's Toronto brewery and Coors Brewing Company's Golden brewery, our brewmasters spend their days perfecting existing brews and experimenting with new ones.

Brewing greatness means our work is never done. And that's fine, because we really like what we do.