In 1873 Adolf Coors and business partner Jacob Schueler founded Schueler & Coors Golden Brewery. Coors, who immigrated from Germany, had brewing experience but not the finances to start the business. Working out of an old tannery, the men produced their first beer in 1874.
By 1880 Coors was able to purchase Schueler’s portion of the business and renamed the company to Adolph Coors Golden Brewery. There would be several iterations of the name over the years, ultimately becoming Coors Brewing Company.
The beer Coors produced was popular, especially amongst the miners, who would drink the gold lager in banquet halls or tents. The beer would be officially named Coors Banquet in 1937.
Coors, with his experience in brewing, knew water was a critical part of the beverage. The brewery’s location next to Colorado’s Clear Creek would play a key role in the evolution of the beer. Coors diverted part of the river to utilize it for the beer, and the use of “Rocky Mountain Spring Water” would eventually be the branding of the beer.
Coors Banquet beer would be the only beer the brewery produced until 1978 with the introduction of Coors Light. That would be followed by other brands including George Killian’s Irish Red and Keystone Light. In September, 2021, Coors took its first step into distilled spirits with the debut of Coors Five Trail Blended Whiskey.
The product is a blend of a Kentucky bourbon and three separate whiskeys from Kentucky, Indiana and Colorado. Colorado’s single malt whiskey is distilled in Golden. The blend uses Rocky Mountain water to cut the spirit to 95 proof.
Straight out of the bottle, served neat, the whiskey has a lot of oak on the nose, which considering the blend, isn’t surprising. The taste is sweet with Rye, but spicy hot. It has a long burn on the tongue. The oak really stands out through the taste.
Next, served straight with a couple of drops of water to cut the alcohol, a good portion of the bite goes away while the American oak continues to stand out. It is more drinkable straight, and when put on the rocks is even better.
The whiskey makes a good Old Fashioned, but nothing unusual. At a suggested retail price of $59.95, the price is about average for a 750 ml bottle of whiskey, and frankly the whiskey is average as well. Perhaps it’s due to Coor’s first time out with a distilled spirit, and future variations will stand out.
After trying the Coors Five Trail Blended Whiskey, we cracked open a bottle of Spirit Hound Distillery’s Straight Malt Whiskey. Perhaps it wasn’t a fair comparison, a straight malt whiskey compared to a blend, but the Spirit Hound whiskey was remarkably better.
While Coors sits in the “Local Whiskey” section on liquor store shelves, it is fair to say Coors isn’t a craft spirit, unlike most of the other bottles sitting next to it. As an international brand, using bourbon and whisky from four different states, it isn’t exactly local. Coors Five Trail Blended Whiskey is good, and will compete with the other big brand whiskeys, but they will likely struggle to compete with the rich flavors of the local craft creations.