Coors Brewers Limited Fact Sheet

William Worthington: A Global Brewer Before His Time

Englishman William Worthington began brewing in Burton on Trent in 1744 and his fellow countryman William Bass started brewing in the town in 1777. Burton brewers saw the potential for beer brewing as a global business, dispatching British ales to St. Petersburg, Russia, the Baltics, and North America. In 1877, four years after the Adolph Coors Company had set up shop across the Atlantic, the Bass brewery was turning out more than a million barrels a year.

In 1926, Bass and Worthington breweries merged, and by the 1940’s a proliferation of breweries in the U.K., combined with the waxing and waning of global beer exports, led the brewing industry to consolidate further. In 1954, Bass Brewers launched Carling Black Label, the beer that would eventually become the U.K.’s best selling beer brand. In 1998, Carling Black Label was reintroduced as simply Carling.

William Bass’s love for the art and craft of brewing authentic beer was rooted in a strong sense of place, much like the inspiration that John Molson derived from Montreal and Adolph Coors felt at the base of the Rockies in Golden, Colorado. His brewery, like those of Molson and Coors, has endured and thrived through more than 230 years by developing and perfecting refreshing, distinctive beers that people in the U.K. and around the world want to drink.

Coors Brewers Limited

In 2002, Bass Brewers became Coors Brewers Limited when it joined the Coors family and today is a subsidiary of Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE, TSX TAP). The brewery is the U.K.’s second largest brewer with a 21 percent market share for the venerable Carling brand alone. Its portfolio of brands includes Coors Light and Grolsch, among others.

Coors Brewers Limited owns three brewing facilities throughout the U.K. and oversees brewing activities in Europe and Asia, underscoring Molson Coors Brewing Company’s rise as a top global brewing company led by the quality of its beer brands.

Key Company Brands

Carling

Britain’s best selling lager for more than two decades and still growing, accounting for 1 in 3 pints of mainstream lager sold in the off-trade and 1 in 4 pints of lager sold in the on-trade. Product innovation remains at the forefront of Carling’s strategy having been the first brand to bring extra-cold lager to the on trade in 2002. The most recent extensions to the Carling family include the launch of a new 2% mid strength lager, Carling C2 and Carling Premier.

Grolsch

Untraditional since 1615, it is Grolsch’s special extra ingredient, time, that has marked out this refreshing beer as the classic premium Dutch lager. Like other long-established brewers, Grolsch brewed darker coloured ales until the pilsner revolution of the 1800’s. Grolsch outperforms the number one premium lager brand in blind taste tests and delivers what consumers want: a great tasting, authentic, 5% premium continental lager.

Coors Light

The U.K.'s newest, most exciting premium lager. Coors Light is a premium strength beer with a clean, crisp, light taste that is easy-drinking and refreshing. Always served icy cold, it has a unique rocky mountain panel that turns blue when it is ready to drink.

Grolsch Weizen

Grolsch Premium Weizen was first brewed to celebrate the opening of the Grolsch brewery at Enschede but was so well received, was adapted for full production. Containing 60% wheat and 40% barley malt, hops, yeast and water, Grolsch Weizen is brewed according to the German purity law Rheinheitsgebot and has no other ingredients. By contrast, Belgian wheat beer contains other ingredients such as citrus peel and coriander.

Sol

In 1899, a German brewmaster working in the “El salto del agua” brewery near Mexico City, discovered a ray of bright sunlight cast over his brewing vessel. He named his new beer ‘El Sol’, and an international brewing legend was born. Characterised by its clear, long necked bottle and embossed ‘painted’ label, Sol is a golden lager beer with a smooth, mellow flavour and exquisite aroma, best enjoyed with a slice of lime in the neck.

Worthington’s Creamflow

Voluptuous flavor that is dominated by malt and fruit. Creamflow's fabulously fruity aroma is packed with red and green apples, bananas and pear drops. Worthington's Creamflow features the subtlest of hop bitterness, gently perfumed by floral hop aroma.

William Worthington’s White Shield

Defiant survivor of the 1820’s India Pale Ale tradition, when only the most flavoursome and highly hopped of beers endured the arduous voyage round the Cape of Good Hope to India, Worthington’s White Shield is bottled live and matures with age. Like fine cask beer, bottled-conditioned White Shield boasts a small amount of William Worthington’s feisty dual yeast, and will mature for at least 3 years after shipping from the nation’s oldest micro-brewery in Burton on Trent. It has led the resurgence of interest in live, un-pasteurised brews and has consistently been voted as being one of the world’s truly great beers.

Caffrey’s

Thomas Caffrey first established his brewery in Queen Street, Belfast in 1897. Caffrey’s Irish Ale was launched in 1994 promising a beer as cold as lager, as smooth as stout, with a taste of an ale. Caffrey’s became an immediate success with the help of the famous ‘New York’ advert.

Carling C2

The new great-tasting, 2% lager from Carling that contains all the taste but just half the alcohol of a regular pint. It’s also the first beer in the U.K. in the new ‘mid-strength’ category and is expected to trigger a significant trend for lower alcohol beers and could well be the most important innovation in brewing for years.

Kasteel Cru

Brewed with water from les Vosges mountains in Alsace, malted barley, choicest hops, and the extraordinary, inventive addition of Champagne yeast fermentation, Kasteel Cru is a deliciously crafted lager which combines strength with a lightness of touch.

Brewing Awards

2007
All Party Parliamentary Beer Group Brewer of the Year	Steve Wellington, master brewer of Worthington’s White Shield

Brand & Trade Awards

2006
The Webby Awards	Honoree Member for carling.com
The Grocer Star Product Award	Carling C2
FWD Drinksummit	Supplier of the Year
Landmark Wholesale	Supplier Project of the Year

2004
FWD Drinksummit	Gold Medal for Customer Service

Coors Brewers Limited Brewery Locations

Headquarters	Burton-on-Trent, England
Brewery Locations	Burton-on-Trent, England
	Tadcaster, England
	Alton, England

Corporate Leadership

Mark Hunter	Chief Executive Officer
John Holberry	Sales Director
Simon Davies	Marketing Director
Stewart Glendinning	Finance Director and Chief Financial Officer
Keith Donald	Business Services Director
Martin Thomas	Supply Chain Director