Coors Brewery, Golden, Colorado

A co-worker from the company my husband works for in Manhattan, flew in last Monday to do an audit in the Colorado office on Tuesday, and we took her around locally for a quick tour. Unfortunately, the usual bright blue Colorado skies were overcast that day and visibility of this beautiful area were less than ideal.  We drove up nearby Morrison to show her the fabulous outdoor Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater, as you can see by the collage above, but I'll save explaining more about this remarkable area for a more scenic day when I can take better photos of it.

Next, we took an exciting spin through some of the roads through the foothills...watch out for falling rocks!

The drive was very scenic, even if the weather wasn't cooperating with us.

We then entered the charming town of Golden, Colorado.

Golden lies along Clear Creek at the edge of the foothills of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Founded during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush in June of 1859, the mining camp was originally named Golden City in honor of Thomas L. Golden, a miner from Georgia, United States, who was one of the earliest prospectors in the area.

The very large red Coors Brewery sign is easy to spot in town. The company is now known as MillerCoors (one word) after both companies merged in 2008. The brewery building is the largest of its kind in the world! The brewery is one of the top global brewers in the world, with more than 40 brands in its portfolio.

Tours of the Coors Brewery are free and conducted Thursday through Monday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday 12:00 to 4 p.m., and begin in the southeast corner of the visitor parking lot, at 13th and Ford Street. Guests under 18 years old must be accompanied by an adult.

Adolph Coors (1847 - 1929) apprenticed at a brewery in Prussia during his teens and immigrated as a penniless stowaway to America in 1868 to realize his dreams of becoming a brewer. Adolph opened the Golden Brewery (later Coors Brewing Company) in Colorado and tapped his first barrel in 1873. He specifically chose this area of the country as he felt it had the perfect water for producing a high-quality beer.

The brewery tour is around a 30-minute self-paced, walk through of the brewery. The process of making beer is described through an audio player recording we were provided with, and also through informative dioramas and picture windows looking down on the actual brewery's malting, brewing, and packaging processes.  I was fascinated to learn that Coors recycles or reuses an average of 95% of the solid waste it produces, from spent grain yeast to alcohol.

At one point during the tour a small sample of freshly brewed Coors beer or Coors Light beer, direct from the barrels, is given to each guest over 21.

The tour culminates in the hospitality lounge, where each guest over the age of 21, with a valid ID, is allowed to sample three of Coors fine products.  Non-alcoholic beverages are also available. There is also the opportunity to shop in the Coors and Co. gift shop.

We sampled Batch 19 Beer, which is an amber lager made from a recently rediscovered pre-prohibition formula. It is now available in select cities. We also enjoyed our personal favorite, the slightly sweet, orange essence Blue Moon Belgium white beer.

Afterward, we walked into town to enjoy a nice hot lunch at a local eatery and let our beers digest.  It was a good thing we did, as we took a Coors brewery tour guide's suggestion to take a drive to a nearby destination.....

....can you see it in the hazy distance? It's Lookout Mountain! At 7,581 feet, it is one of the larger foothills which overlooks Golden, Colorado, and the site of some interesting historical sights. I'll show you what we saw on a future blog post!

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