Coors' famous claim

The thread about Budweiser's claim to be the most expensive brand around got me thinking: How can Coor's claim to be brewed with 100% Rocky mountain spring water now that it's brewed in both Virginia as well as Colorado. Obviously they're not trucking the water across the nation, as it would be far more efficient to just brew it and then truck the brewed beer. Maybe they chemically re-create rocky mountain water by matching the PH, hardness, mineral balance, etc. But is that really "rocky mountain spring water? Anyway it's been bugging me for a while now...

They don't brew it here, AFAIK. They do the mash and boil in Colorado, using that water. Then what I think they do is ferment it and take a lot of the water out to form a concentrate, then ship it in that form. Obviously, this cuts down on shipping costs. Then, once it arrives at one of the plants here, they reconstitute it using Blue Ridge Mountain Water, then carbonate and bottle/can it.

I might be a little off-base with some of the details (perhaps they ship unfermented wort concentrate here and then ferment it here?), but the overall concept means that their claim of "brewing" with Rocky Mountain Water remains valid because the boil is done with only Rocky Mountain Water. It's a technical loophole, but there you go.

Nah, they ship out dehydrated Colorado H20, then then they just add water to rehydrate it, just like we rehydrate dry yeast! ;D

Just googled your question and found this Denver Post article

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_9789807


It talks about the RM spring water issue with this quote as well:

"We will use the same recipe that originated in Golden to brew Coors Light at other breweries. We'll use the same frost-brewing process, proprietary yeast and high-country barley. Any water we use at any brewery must meet our high-quality specifications before we would use it to produce any of our brands."

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Apparently they will only be brewing the original Coors Banquet brand with the RM spring water.

Good curiosity! Gotta keep 'em honest

Hm, yeah, looking around some more, it appears that they WILL be expanding the Shenandoah facility for brewing. Hmph. Color me wrong.

Hey, speaking of Coors, I've looked around teh internetz and I still can't find any definitive explanation of this "frost brewing" process that they so gallantly celebrate. How exactly does one frost-brew beer? It sounds a bit like trying to cook a f*cking pot roast by putting it in the freezer.

Evan! said:

They don't brew it here, AFAIK. They do the mash and boil in Colorado, using that water. Then what I think they do is ferment it and take a lot of the water out to form a concentrate, then ship it in that form...

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Coors is fermented? I could have sworn last time I had one that it was non-alcoholic.

Actually, none of Coors' brewing water is surface water. That 'Rocky mountain spring water' is pumped from wells sunk into an aquifer deep underneath the Coors plant.

A number of years ago (like 12 -- wow, showing my age), Golden had a water problem that rendered the city water unusable for a few days while the city made repairs. Coors pumped their water into tankers and set up distribution around Golden. I had a party ball full of water with a dispenser pump in my kitchen, thanks to Coors.

Evan! said:

They don't brew it here, AFAIK. They do the mash and boil in Colorado, using that water. Then what I think they do is ferment it and take a lot of the water out to form a concentrate, then ship it in that form. Obviously, this cuts down on shipping costs. Then, once it arrives at one of the plants here, they reconstitute it using Blue Ridge Mountain Water, then carbonate and bottle/can it.

I might be a little off-base with some of the details (perhaps they ship unfermented wort concentrate here and then ferment it here?), but the overall concept means that their claim of "brewing" with Rocky Mountain Water remains valid because the boil is done with only Rocky Mountain Water. It's a technical loophole, but there you go.

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Ahahhahahah, that's great!!! I've always joked with people about BMC actually being distributed like a package of dry beer flavoring, a little package of 120 proof alcohol, and then you just add water. But I guess it may be more true than i thought!

Believe me when I say the water flowing down clear creek to Golden Colorado is not that great anyway. The creek follows I-70 most of the way which is a major road that is constantly being spray with Mag Chloride to keep the ice down. I'm sure Mag ends up in the river. Also I have kayaked many times just upstream from Coors and have received a fun parasite called Giardia twice. Water at some other breweries may be worse but people should know Coors water isn't so pure. I'm sure they filter it really well but I wouldn't be drinking the water just upstream.

jds said:

Actually, none of Coors' brewing water is surface water. That 'Rocky mountain spring water' is pumped from wells sunk into an aquifer deep underneath the Coors plant.

A number of years ago (like 12 -- wow, showing my age), Golden had a water problem that rendered the city water unusable for a few days while the city made repairs. Coors pumped their water into tankers and set up distribution around Golden. I had a party ball full of water with a dispenser pump in my kitchen, thanks to Coors.

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Why is it that some of clear creek is diverted straight to the plant then? Do the use it for cooling or some other purpose?

Weizenheimer said:

Why is it that some of clear creek is diverted straight to the plant then? Do the use it for cooling or some other purpose?

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Yep. Clear Creek water goes into the cooling pond just in front of the visitors' entrance. There's a big sign in front that says, effectively, "this is not brewing water". IIRC, it's also diverted to the steam plant and used as feedwater for the steam boilers.

I also use nothing but Ice Cold Rocky Mountain Spring (Tap) Water, but you don't hear me bragging about it.

Weizenheimer said:

Believe me when I say the water flowing down clear creek to Golden Colorado is not that great anyway. The creek follows I-70 most of the way which is a major road that is constantly being spray with Mag Chloride to keep the ice down. I'm sure Mag ends up in the river. Also I have kayaked many times just upstream from Coors and have received a fun parasite called Giardia twice. Water at some other breweries may be worse but people should know Coors water isn't so pure. I'm sure they filter it really well but I wouldn't be drinking the water just upstream.

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Yeah, I've driven by there on hwy 93 a couple of times. For those who haven't seen it, suffice it to say it's about the furthest thing imaginable from the snow covered mountainsides Pete coors walks through in the ads (that was, before he got busted for DUI and dissapeared from the TV)

And re the "frost brewed" question, My guess is that they are using the term "brew" to refer to both the boil and the fermentation, so the frost part is the lagering.

and yet another thing to ponder: Coors light is advertised as the "coldest tasting beer" according to some nebulous taste tests. I've always wondered what constitutes "coldest tasting" in a beer? I suppose it's so subjective it can't be challengedm but wouldn't it be interesting if a microbrewery came up with a beer flavored with mint leaves? That could be reasonably said to be "colder tasting" than a coors light. I'd love to see the lawsuit!

Hercules Rockefeller said:

The thread about Budweiser's claim to be the most expensive brand around got me thinking: How can Coor's claim to be brewed with 100% Rocky mountain spring water now that it's brewed in both Virginia as well as Colorado. Obviously they're not trucking the water across the nation, as it would be far more efficient to just brew it and then truck the brewed beer. Maybe they chemically re-create rocky mountain water by matching the PH, hardness, mineral balance, etc. But is that really "rocky mountain spring water? Anyway it's been bugging me for a while now...

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its called a marketing gimmick, most breweries have something like that on there bottle, even micro brews and 99% of the time it is tap water

I have the biggest problem with the "Frost Brewed" gimmick. I dug around their sites for a while, and couldn't find any info on "frost brewed" beer. They say its proprietary...probably because it doesn't exist. Here is a quote from their site

Our Proprietary brewing process keeps the beer cold from brewing through packaging - ensuring cold, fresh flavor that's always satisfying

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Even though it is "frost brewed" they specifically say they mash malted grain, then BOIL the wort. I seriously doubt they pressurize the kettle so the wort will boil at 32F. From there, it is safe to assume "frost brewing" only refers to fermentation and lagering. Of course you have to ferment and lager a Lager at low temps, so this is really a redundant statement.

Oh, and according to their site, they only use US 2-row barley...which they say is the best for beer.

mot said:

its called a marketing gimmick, most breweries have something like that on there bottle, even micro brews and 99% of the time it is tap water

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Rogue says they use "Free Range" water, or something like that.

Rogue says they use Free Range Coastal Water. Not necessarily because they think it's actually *better* but also to poke fun at the Rocky Mountain Spring Water gimmick.

Hercules Rockefeller said:

The thread about Budweiser's claim to be the most expensive brand around got me thinking: How can Coor's claim to be brewed with 100% Rocky mountain spring water now that it's brewed in both Virginia as well as Colorado. Obviously they're not trucking the water across the nation, as it would be far more efficient to just brew it and then truck the brewed beer. Maybe they chemically re-create rocky mountain water by matching the PH, hardness, mineral balance, etc. But is that really "rocky mountain spring water? Anyway it's been bugging me for a while now...

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My twin brother is a Sr. Automation Engineer at the Shenandoah Valley (Virginia), Miller Coors facility and they use local water at that plant for their beers.

Clint

"Our Proprietary brewing process keeps the beer cold from brewing through packaging - ensuring cold, fresh flavor that's always satisfying"

It seems then, that the "frost brewing" refers to shipping practices. But if that's the case - if the beer is constantly cold from the moment it's canned/bottled to the time you pop the top - then why do they need a label that turns blue after it turns cold? shouldn't it have been cold to begin with.

I understand that's a marketing gimmick too - and to be fair craft brewers use marketing gimmicks as well. I just like to poke some fun, and BMC marketing is a nice, fat target

I remember Stroh's beer used to be "Fire Brewed". Hmm, which is better...fire?...frost?

I'll just stick with "Greenwood Aged" Naked City Beer.

Brewtopia said:

I remember Stroh's beer used to be "Fire Brewed". Hmm, which is better...fire?...frost?

I'll just stick with "Greenwood Aged" Naked City Beer.

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Blue Point would say fire:

TOASTED LAGER

Blue Point Brewing's award-winning Toasted Lager is our flagship product. Copper in color this brew is made from six different malts including: English Pale, Crystal, Munich, Carapils, Wheat and Belgian Caravienna. Toasted Lager displays a balanced flavor of malt and hop which makes for easy drinking. Special lager yeast is used to produce that long lasting, smooth finish. The "toasted" part of the name refers to our direct-fire brew kettle’s hot flames that impart a toasted flavor to our most popular microbrew.
http://www.bluepointbrewing.com/beer_information.html

Brewtopia said:

I remember Stroh's beer used to be "Fire Brewed". Hmm, which is better...fire?...frost?

I'll just stick with "Greenwood Aged" Naked City Beer.

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Stroh's history website said:

Julius Stroh, often accompanied by Otto Rosenbusch (the Brewmaster), traveled in Europe extensively to investigate the various brewing methods used by the famous European breweries. During one of his trips, Julius Stroh became convinced that beers brewed over a direct fire tasted better than those brewed with steam. He returned to that traditional, more costly process and incorporated the now famous copper fire-brewing kettles into his new brewhouse, built in 1912-1914.

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But when Npr did that Science of Brewing special that we all listenned to here a few months back. The host asked one of the experts about it, and he said that basically any brewery that heats their kettle with flame is doing the same thing...SO all you turkey fryer users, you are following the proud tradition of Julius Stroh!

Legally speaking, my PUR filtered tap water is "all natural" also...

In talking with my brother who works at the Miller Coors facility in Virginia, He told me that the mountain that is located above the plant is called Rocky Mountain (you can see it on Google maps). So I guess they could you use Rocky Mountain Spring Water. However, he said that Coors (proper) is made at the Golden CO. Facility only. His plant makes Coors Light and Keystone Light, which are brewed with Rocky Mountain Tradition (I think).

Clint