Molson Coors to start Micro Brewery??

[Duct Tape]

Sigh, i guess this is a sign of the apocolypse??? The Big Boys want to start muscling out the micros by playing at their own game???

Molson Coors new unit to brew for finer tastes TheStar.com - Business - Molson Coors new unit to brew for finer tastes
August 31, 2007
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/251871

Beer drinkers hankering for the finer taste of higher-end brews soon may be able to satisfy their thirst with new products from Molson Coors Brewing Co. The Denver-based company, one of the world's largest brewers, has formed a small brewing subsidiary called AC Golden Brewing Co. to cultivate above-premium products, joining other large brewers searching for a way to gain a bigger share of the fast-growing market segment already rife with microbrews and craft beer.

In an email to employees last week, Coors Brewing said the brewery would introduce products slowly.

Craft brews have grown recently at double-digit rates, while traditional beer products have grown between 1 per cent and 1.5 per cent, said Benj Steinman, publisher of the trade publication Beer Marketer's Insights.

In Toronto, Molson Coors shares slipped 10 cents, or 0.11 per cent.

[Rob Creighton]

Sigh, i guess this is a sign of the apocolypse??? The Big Boys want to start muscling out the micros by playing at their own game???

Hence, the Toronto Beer Festival.

[GregClow]

Sigh, i guess this is a sign of the apocolypse??? The Big Boys want to start muscling out the micros by playing at their own game???

This isn't exactly a new strategy. Coors already has the Blue Moon brands, Molson has Rickards, A-B has a number of pseudo-craft beers in their portfolio in the US, Miller has Henry Weinhards, etc.

I think the only reason that business reports are treating it like some sort of brilliant new initiative is because it's such a contrast to the approach currently being taken by A-B and Miller, who are throwing their hopes behind the usual marketing-driven gimmick beers like Miller Chill, and not doing a lot to promote their pseudo-craft beers at the moment.

[crawler]

Anyone know why Blue Moon hasn't been marketed up here by Molson-Coors?

[Bobbyok]

Anyone know why Blue Moon hasn't been marketed up here by Molson-Coors?

It is - it's just called Rickard's White.

[lagerale]

I love the bit about "above-premium" products. What's next, Super duper, triple platinum premium.

[flip]

I love the bit about "above-premium" products. What's next, Super duper, triple platinum premium.

It's funny because it's true. I've seen the word Premium thrown around so much that it's a discounted word to me now. e.g. Lakeport Premium Lager. When they release their Super Premium, Unobtainium Edition of yellow fizz then maybe I'll consider it.

[jesskidden]

Anyone know why Blue Moon hasn't been marketed up here by Molson-Coors?

It is - it's just called Rickard's White.

And, last I heard (can't say I bother to look at the labels when I'm beer shopping) all/most of the Blue Moon sold in the US now is being brewed in Canada. I guess they have excess capacity at Molson facilities and they closed their Memphis brewery a few years ago where some of the non-Coors branded Coors beers were coming from.

Uncharacteristically, they don't proclaim "IMPORTED" on the label, however, like many other Canadian-brewed beers marketed down here like Guinness Extra Stout, Fosters, etc.

[pootz]

Interesting development.

If the corporate brewers start muscling in to the "craft" beer biz ( or "super premiun" as they refer to it), It will fall on small independents and craft/micros to make a product that distinguishes small batch hand crafted brews from the corporate "superpremiums"....like going the next evolutionary stage to big and extreme beers and being creative with styles in hybriding brews.

Competition drives innovation....I can hardly wait.