In the past, the Molson Coors brewery in Fort Worth, Texas, was dedicated exclusively to producing beer. Previously, Molson Coors was a company that focused on the production of premium beverages, but has now become a total beverage company with a greater emphasis on flavorful products such as Vizzy Hard Seltzer, Topo Chico Hard Seltzer® and Simply Spiked®. The city of Fort Worth, which has made major improvements to increase capacity, has played an important role in helping the company complete this transition.
According to Fort Worth Brewery’s vice president of operations, Jim Crawford, there has been an increase in the importance and demand for its products, which has led his company to invest in its facilities. “These projects have not only prepared us to produce what consumers demand now, but will allow us to do things in the future that we can’t do today.”
Earlier this year, the Molson Coors brewery inaugurated a new $65 million fully automated packaging facility. With this, the ability to package varieties of its products beyond beer has increased significantly. In addition, in the previous year, the company invested a large amount of money to increase its production of flavored beverages by 400%.
As Molson Coors continues to expand its capacity to produce and deliver high-quality alcoholic beverages, the Fort Worth plant stands out as the company’s only U.S. brewery to produce both beer and flavored alcoholic beverages. On average, this plant produces 1.7 million barrels of beer and different flavor options each year, including brands such as Steel Reserve, Henry Weinhard’s Soda and Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy, which represents approximately 20% of the brewery’s total production.
According to Crawford, the improvements made at the brewery have allowed for greater flexibility in the production, packaging and storage of its products internally. This has made the process more efficient from start to finish. These improvements have been implemented at a time of high demand for Molson Coors products, including Simply Spiked, with its Peach variety as the No. 1 product in terms of dollar share during the second quarter according to Circana. Also among the most popular brands are Topo Chico Hard Seltzer and Vizzy Hard Seltzer, occupying positions three and four, respectively, in terms of hard seltzer.
According to Crawford,
“in the past, every time we brewed an alcohol base, we had to use the same breweries where we brewed beer. It took away our ability to brew.”
Molson Coors has made several upgrades to its system, including the implementation of advanced filtration technology, a new brewing line and improvements to its bottling process. These improvements have eliminated problems that previously existed and have also reduced their reliance on external production for products such as Simply Spiked. According to Crawford, at this point, they are completely independent and do not need anyone’s help. They are capable of doing almost anything they set their minds to.
During 2021, the company invested a large amount of money, around $100 million, to modernize its hard seltzer production in Canada. In addition, it allocated another US$35 million to its operations in the United Kingdom to make improvements to its facilities, including the addition of its first line to package hard seltzer in cans. Earlier this year, its new brewery near Montreal began operations, and the renovation of the Golden, Colorado-based brewery is expected to be completed next year following a multi-million dollar overhaul.
