USA, CO: Molson Coors completes Golden brewery expansion

Molson Coors has completed its 200,000-square-foot brewery expansion in Golden, Colorado. The company stated that this will help reduce carbon emissions and save costs in the long term, Food Dive reported on October 21.

The owner of Coors Banquet and Blue Moon said in a blog post last week its modernization efforts included replacing horizontal fermentation machinery with over a hundred vertical tanks, along with 45 miles of piping and 150 miles of wire.

Molson Coors said the facility will require 25% less energy, capture 30% more carbon than it did previously and save 80 million gallons of water each year.

Peter J. Coors, a fifth generation member of the Coors family, led construction on the project, and said in a statement that testing on its beer brands thus far has been positive.

“I’m proud to say our sensory team has not been able to tell any difference between the Coors Light made with the previous equipment and the new equipment, which is exactly what we wanted,” Coors said. “This is a significant financial investment that really sets Golden up for the next 150 years.”

The business first broke ground on the brewery expansion in the fall of 2020. Tracey Joubert, the company’s chief financial officer, said in its most recent earnings call the modernization worth hundreds of millions of dollars will result in “more efficient fermenting, aging and filtration facilities, as well as state-of-the-art upgrades to the cellars.”

The expansion comes as the company is working to steer its beer brands toward growth again after a period of stagnation. In the company’s most recent earnings in August, Molson Coors reported a 7.3% decline in volumes, and a 1.5% year-over-year decline in net sales in the quarter. CEO Gavin Hattersley said on the earnings call the company is focused on rebuilding its inventory of beer and increasing prices.