Coors Brewing Survives in Changing World

DENVER, Feb. 15, 2005 — -- Coors Brewing Co., founded four generations ago, is the nation's oldest brewer. But given the pressure of global competition, earlier this month the uniquely American company merged with Molson -- Canada's leading brewery -- which is almost 100 years older.

Pete Coors, who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate last year, as a Republican, is the great-grandson of Adolph Coors, the company's founder. Like almost every other male in the family, he grew up in the brewing business.

Coors said his ancestors would have difficulty comprehending the corporate merger of Coors with Molson.

"It's a different world today," he said. "I don't know if they could even comprehend. My grandfather, at one point, thought if we could just get to 250,000 barrels we would be successful."

Adolph Coors, a German immigrant, came to the United States penniless and became a millionaire in 20 years.

"He had the immigrant spirit, the pioneer spirit, that feeling of independence," said his great-grandson. "We've been fiercely independent, and that continues to this day."

Conservative Corporate Politics

During the 1920s, Prohibition almost destroyed the company. Although Adolph Coors committed suicide in 1929, the company survived and flourished. The Coors family's politics were always conservative.

"My grandfather always bemoaned the fact that government had such an impact," Coors said. "And frankly, I suspect Prohibition solidified that pretty substantially."

Joe Coors, Pete's father, was an early supporter of Ronald Reagan and became a powerful force in conservative politics. He funded the creation of The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that is at the center of the conservative movement today.

"He had very strong feelings about less government, about the influence of what he believed was the left on our elected officials in Washington," said Coors. "He was part of the catalyst of getting people together to just take another point of view."

For a time, it appeared that the Coors family's politics was bad for business.

"We went through a time when we had a very nasty disagreement with organized labor in the mid-'70s -- a strike that lasted a year and a half," Coors said. "It took 10 years, and we finally got back together with the union and agreed we wouldn't call them nasty names. And we've had labor peace here for a long period of time."

Pete Coors is generally credited with bringing the company into the modern age.

By merging with another company, Coors says he did what it takes to survive in a global marketplace. The new company is called Molson-Coors.

"I am not going away," he said. "We haven't turned this thing entirely over to the professional managers. Family still has significant influence."

Peter Jennings filed this report for "World News Tonight."