September 9, 2025 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, before it became one of America’s most recognizable beer brands, Coors was the dream of Adolph Coors, a German immigrant who started brewing in the mining towns of Colorado. With a commitment to quality and a passion for craft, Coors created what would become Coors Banquet—a beer with staying power. Pete Coors shares how his ancestors’ hard work, vision, and old-world techniques helped shape the brewery’s legacy.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we returned to our American stories, and up next
a story from Pete Kors on Adolph Coors. Take it away, Pete.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, So, Adolph was born somewhere in the eighteen forties
in a little place called barmannon Vippertal in Germany. Kind
of an interesting story, people say. The Cors name is
kind of unusual for German name. His birth certificate he
(00:47):
was signed in his course krs, which is very German,
and his father actually signed kohrs. And by the time
his sister was born about eight or ten years later,
it was a Dutch magistrate who brought the double O
from their language and it became steel or as His
(01:09):
father was a flower miller, died when he was ten.
He had been a prentice three times in order to survive,
once as a flower miller with his father's trade, once
as a printer BookFinder, and those are three years in
denture ships, which, as I understand in those days, that
meant you got room and.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Board and that's about it. And then the third one
in brewing.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
We don't know the details of how or why he
decided to leave Germany. He was always very proud of
his German heritage, but he stowed away on a ship,
landed in Baltimore, had no papers, had no money.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Was able to work off his passage. As soon as
he did.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
He started working his way across the country. And I
guess it's a you know, a typical Great American story
of coming to a land of opportunity and freedom but
with no safety nets.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
I mean, he came here, you were on your own,
as so many.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Pioneers did after this country became free from the monarchial
rule of England. And he worked on the Erie Barge Canal,
as we understand. And he worked at a brewery in Naperville, Illinois,
the Stanger Brewery, became general.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Manager of the brewery there.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Left, came further west, ended up in Denver, started business
importing cask wine from California and taking it by pack
horse up to the mining towns between Idaho Springs, Georgetown,
Central City, Blackhawk, selling them.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
And that's how he made a living. And then.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I guess some of his German friends and Denver said, well,
you know how to brew beer, we could use a
good brewery. Showed up with a financial partner. I think
he invested about ten thousand dollars in eleven acres in Golden, Colorado,
where he had found a source of spring water. The
brewery was incorporated in eighteen seventy three, three years before
(03:10):
Colorado statehood. His partner lasted about eight years and decided
the beer business wasn't going anywhere, and Adolph turned into
a sole proprietorship. And he really had no formal education,
but he had a practical education. And I think that
was probably true for most immigrants.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
At that time.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
They came with their skills, with their ability to do
hard labor, and it wasn't easy.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I'm sure it wasn't easy.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
And as I look at some of the pictures that
we have in the archives of the brewer workers sitting
around the tanks and the kegs, it's pretty obvious that
they were a pretty rough crew.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
You know.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
He struggled, but the business was growing. In those days.
There were over twenty breweries in Colorado. Most of the
mining towns had their own breweries. We would equate the
craft breweries today boutique breweries. If you hike throughout Colorado
and pay attention a lot of these old abandoned mining
(04:12):
towns and mining areas, you'll find hops growing, hops growing
wild and he literally started by hauling beer by back horse,
and then he began to buy properties, and pre prohibition
he sold beer by like craft berries doing today by
having saloons and bars.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
We have a.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Listing actually nineteen I think the first year of taxes
were nineteen fifteen, and he did a full accounting of
all his properties in Denver and in southern Colorado and
around the region. Prohibition changed all that and brewers could
no longer own a retail liquor, saloons and bars. Another
(04:58):
interesting story about eight off. He needed to double the
capacity of his brewery because they were doing quite well
and growing, and I believe it was eighteen eighty four,
I don't can't remember for sure the date.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
He had just.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Completed the new facilities and flood came down Clear Creek
and wiped.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Out his new brewery.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
And he had borrowed money from the banks in Denver
to build that, And of course beer sales primarily grow
in the summertime, and so here is brewery in the
spring has wiped out all of his inventory. Went back
to the banks and said, look, if you'll double down,
I'll rebuild and I'll pay it off. And he did,
(05:41):
but he never borrowed another dime. He decided that that
was not a good way to proceed, So really the
company didn't ever borrow money until about the late eighteen eighties.
We'd been growing and we needed the additional capital to
expand the brewery. So people often asked why a world
in the sixties and seventies, when the company was growing
(06:03):
so fast, were you only in eleven states? And the
simple answer is we were. Every dime that we had
was invested back into the company. Because we had no debt,
we couldn't borrow money to grow any faster. So that's
in the mid seventies when competition from the east, particularly
on Halser Busch, came more west, we began to expand
(06:26):
our territory.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
And people used to.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Say it had something to do with quality, and to
a certain degree it did. In eleven states, we could
have pretty good control of quality. But the real reason
is we needed in order to become a competitor with
the big guys and keep them from bearing us, we
expanded territory. The rest, I guess, if they say, is history.
(06:53):
A couple of funny stories. After Prohibition. Back in those days,
a banquet was a big deal. You didn't have fast
foods restaurants. You didn't have people on there, you know,
going out to the clubs. And I mean if you
had a banquet, that was a big deal. And my
grandfather that to the we had no marketing department per
(07:16):
se in those days, said well, I think we had
a well this is this is a beer that's good
enough for a banquet.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
And so that's where a banquet came from.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
And the other other funny story, you know, now we
have the course banquet has the stubby bottles and it's
a it's a retro. It goes back to the early
days after prohibition when we had stubby bottles. And I
asked my uncle one time. I don't know if this
is a true story. And I asked my uncle one time,
why did we why do we go to long next
(07:47):
he said, well, he said, the cowboys when they go
dancing would like to would put their bottles in the
back pocket. Who I could dance and the beer would
slash out. And so that's why a long nex Gut started.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Yeah. I don't know if that's.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
True, accurate or not, but that's why everybody went. Everybody
went to Long Neck and Stubby everybody had pretty much
had stubbies back in the early days after provision. So
now we've gone back to the I guess they put
their beers down when they go dance.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
I don't know, but anyway.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
And special thanks to Monty and to Alex for the
storytelling and putting that story together so beautifully. And a
special thanks to Pete Cores and what a story he
had to tell about Adolph Coors. Born in Germany, he
became an apprentice and even talked about indenture ships. This
is back when young people would work for room and board,
(08:45):
and that was it. And my goodness, by eighteen seventy three,
having come to America, moved all the way out to
the west and learned not by formal education but by
practical education, that is experience. Forge informed a company that
was incorporated in eighteen seventy three, three years before Colorado
was even a state, and all these years later, this
(09:07):
family business, well it's still a family business. And that
doesn't happen often. The story of Adolph Cores and Core's
Brewing Company, as told by Pete Cores here on our
American Story
And we returned to our American stories, and up next
a story from Pete Kors on Adolph Coors. Take it away, Pete.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, So, Adolph was born somewhere in the eighteen forties
in a little place called barmannon Vippertal in Germany. Kind
of an interesting story, people say. The Cors name is
kind of unusual for German name. His birth certificate he
(00:47):
was signed in his course krs, which is very German,
and his father actually signed kohrs. And by the time
his sister was born about eight or ten years later,
it was a Dutch magistrate who brought the double O
from their language and it became steel or as His
(01:09):
father was a flower miller, died when he was ten.
He had been a prentice three times in order to survive,
once as a flower miller with his father's trade, once
as a printer BookFinder, and those are three years in
denture ships, which, as I understand in those days, that
meant you got room and.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Board and that's about it. And then the third one
in brewing.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
We don't know the details of how or why he
decided to leave Germany. He was always very proud of
his German heritage, but he stowed away on a ship,
landed in Baltimore, had no papers, had no money.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Was able to work off his passage. As soon as
he did.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
He started working his way across the country. And I
guess it's a you know, a typical Great American story
of coming to a land of opportunity and freedom but
with no safety nets.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
I mean, he came here, you were on your own,
as so many.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Pioneers did after this country became free from the monarchial
rule of England. And he worked on the Erie Barge Canal,
as we understand. And he worked at a brewery in Naperville, Illinois,
the Stanger Brewery, became general.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Manager of the brewery there.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Left, came further west, ended up in Denver, started business
importing cask wine from California and taking it by pack
horse up to the mining towns between Idaho Springs, Georgetown,
Central City, Blackhawk, selling them.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
And that's how he made a living. And then.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I guess some of his German friends and Denver said, well,
you know how to brew beer, we could use a
good brewery. Showed up with a financial partner. I think
he invested about ten thousand dollars in eleven acres in Golden, Colorado,
where he had found a source of spring water. The
brewery was incorporated in eighteen seventy three, three years before
(03:10):
Colorado statehood. His partner lasted about eight years and decided
the beer business wasn't going anywhere, and Adolph turned into
a sole proprietorship. And he really had no formal education,
but he had a practical education. And I think that
was probably true for most immigrants.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
At that time.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
They came with their skills, with their ability to do
hard labor, and it wasn't easy.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I'm sure it wasn't easy.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
And as I look at some of the pictures that
we have in the archives of the brewer workers sitting
around the tanks and the kegs, it's pretty obvious that
they were a pretty rough crew.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
You know.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
He struggled, but the business was growing. In those days.
There were over twenty breweries in Colorado. Most of the
mining towns had their own breweries. We would equate the
craft breweries today boutique breweries. If you hike throughout Colorado
and pay attention a lot of these old abandoned mining
(04:12):
towns and mining areas, you'll find hops growing, hops growing
wild and he literally started by hauling beer by back horse,
and then he began to buy properties, and pre prohibition
he sold beer by like craft berries doing today by
having saloons and bars.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
We have a.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Listing actually nineteen I think the first year of taxes
were nineteen fifteen, and he did a full accounting of
all his properties in Denver and in southern Colorado and
around the region. Prohibition changed all that and brewers could
no longer own a retail liquor, saloons and bars. Another
(04:58):
interesting story about eight off. He needed to double the
capacity of his brewery because they were doing quite well
and growing, and I believe it was eighteen eighty four,
I don't can't remember for sure the date.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
He had just.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Completed the new facilities and flood came down Clear Creek
and wiped.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Out his new brewery.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
And he had borrowed money from the banks in Denver
to build that, And of course beer sales primarily grow
in the summertime, and so here is brewery in the
spring has wiped out all of his inventory. Went back
to the banks and said, look, if you'll double down,
I'll rebuild and I'll pay it off. And he did,
(05:41):
but he never borrowed another dime. He decided that that
was not a good way to proceed, So really the
company didn't ever borrow money until about the late eighteen eighties.
We'd been growing and we needed the additional capital to
expand the brewery. So people often asked why a world
in the sixties and seventies, when the company was growing
(06:03):
so fast, were you only in eleven states? And the
simple answer is we were. Every dime that we had
was invested back into the company. Because we had no debt,
we couldn't borrow money to grow any faster. So that's
in the mid seventies when competition from the east, particularly
on Halser Busch, came more west, we began to expand
(06:26):
our territory.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
And people used to.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Say it had something to do with quality, and to
a certain degree it did. In eleven states, we could
have pretty good control of quality. But the real reason
is we needed in order to become a competitor with
the big guys and keep them from bearing us, we
expanded territory. The rest, I guess, if they say, is history.
(06:53):
A couple of funny stories. After Prohibition. Back in those days,
a banquet was a big deal. You didn't have fast
foods restaurants. You didn't have people on there, you know,
going out to the clubs. And I mean if you
had a banquet, that was a big deal. And my
grandfather that to the we had no marketing department per
(07:16):
se in those days, said well, I think we had
a well this is this is a beer that's good
enough for a banquet.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
And so that's where a banquet came from.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
And the other other funny story, you know, now we
have the course banquet has the stubby bottles and it's
a it's a retro. It goes back to the early
days after prohibition when we had stubby bottles. And I
asked my uncle one time. I don't know if this
is a true story. And I asked my uncle one time,
why did we why do we go to long next
(07:47):
he said, well, he said, the cowboys when they go
dancing would like to would put their bottles in the
back pocket. Who I could dance and the beer would
slash out. And so that's why a long nex Gut started.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Yeah. I don't know if that's.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
True, accurate or not, but that's why everybody went. Everybody
went to Long Neck and Stubby everybody had pretty much
had stubbies back in the early days after provision. So
now we've gone back to the I guess they put
their beers down when they go dance.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
I don't know, but anyway.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
And special thanks to Monty and to Alex for the
storytelling and putting that story together so beautifully. And a
special thanks to Pete Cores and what a story he
had to tell about Adolph Coors. Born in Germany, he
became an apprentice and even talked about indenture ships. This
is back when young people would work for room and board,
(08:45):
and that was it. And my goodness, by eighteen seventy three,
having come to America, moved all the way out to
the west and learned not by formal education but by
practical education, that is experience. Forge informed a company that
was incorporated in eighteen seventy three, three years before Colorado
was even a state, and all these years later, this
(09:07):
family business, well it's still a family business. And that
doesn't happen often. The story of Adolph Cores and Core's
Brewing Company, as told by Pete Cores here on our
American Story
Host
Lee Habeeb
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