Molson Coors Donates Beer-Derived Ethanol to Dems

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Molson Coors is donating ethanol made from “beer waste” to the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

This is amusing for a couple of reasons. First of all, “beer waste?” This is a new one on me, but apparently, since 1996 Coors has been making E85 ethanol out of beer lost during packaging or rejected because of quality problems. The company makes about 3 million gallons of the stuff every year for its own use and for sale to ethanol wholesalers.

Second, Molson Coors is donating to the Democratic National Convention? Back in the ’80s, a liberal friend of mine once gave a six-pack of Coors to a conservative friend of mine as a gift. The liberal friend called it “Contra beer,” because of the late Joseph Coors’ controversial support for the rebels then fighting the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua, along with other conservative causes. He bought a small plane for the right-wing Contras, funneling the money through Oliver North, Ronald Reagan’s National Security Adviser who was later disgraced when the Iran-Contra Scandal came to light. Joseph Coors also was a founder of the conservative Heritage Foundation and other similar groups.

It just goes to show that since its 2005 merger with Canada’s Molson, Coors is not your father’s brewer.

Tags: Molson Coors Brewing Co., Beer, Democratic National Convention, Molson Coors, Mergers & Acquisitions, Investment, Finance, Dan Mitchell

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1

LisaGreim

05/21/08 | Report as spam

Molson shouldn't get the credit

Coors changed its stripes when Pete Coors took over as boss. Joe had been off the board for years by then, and Pete turned it into a much more progressive company than most people give Coors credit for.

Plus, every corporation in Colorado is getting hammered for donations to the DNC effort this summer. An in-kind donation that happens to send a shiny happy sustainability message for a hometown company is a win-win-win.
2

Mike Patton

05/22/08 | Report as spam

Regarding Pete Coors' progressivism

Oh really?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/7/23/54128/5593

Other self-described progressives might disagree with you.
3

LisaGreim

05/22/08 | Report as spam

Coors vs. Coors

Poor choice of words on my part. Politically progressive, no -- Pete did, after all, run for Senate as a Republican (and got spanked by Ken Salazar). But he's not as scary as Joe was, and what I meant to say is that the Coors of today had stopped being the Coors of old long before the tie-up with Molson.

Coors is a progressive company in the business sense that it's a good corporate citizen and is considered a good place to work (although you can't drink beer on the job anymore). Pete brought in a new regime and better management when he took over as CEO from Bill. They walk their talk on environmental practices.

In the late '90s, my boss at the Rocky Mtn News was having lunch at the Mexico City Lounge, a great little joint in a skeevy neighborhood near downtown Denver. He overheard the waitress tell a nearby table that she couldn't serve beer because the tap was broken. One of the guys at the other table got up and fixed it. It was Pete Coors.
4

DanMitchell

05/27/08 | Report as spam

yes...

You're probably right. But from the historical (and outside-Denver) perspective, Coors donating to the Dems is still mildly amusing. And as you note, while Pete isn't/wasn't rabid like the old man, he is still pretty conservative. I would have been shocked if the independent Coors had given money to the Dem convention. I might say more, but this system, incredibly, doesn't show the post I'm responding to. Yeesh.
5

gnomic@...

05/22/08 | Report as spam

RE: Molson Coors Donates Beer-Derived Ethanol to Dems

HA! Donating "Beer Waste" to the dems? Does this mean that they are stocking the convention with bad beer or that they are hoping the dems drink ethanol - which is poisonous?

Dan - rewriting the press release isn't really journalism.
6

DanMitchell

05/27/08 | Report as spam

what?

Stuff like this is why I might not participate in the online comments here very much. We'll see how it goes, but I'm not sanguine, given what I generally see in comments sections.

If you want to say something is a "rewritten press release," fine. But please back it up with something. How, exactly, is this a "rewritten press release?" Please point to the particulars, the details, of how this is a "rewritten press release." That way, I can address the charge.
7

wmenez@...

05/22/08 | Report as spam

More on Coors conservatism

Further, Coors heir Jonathan Coors is leading the push for a ballot initiative aimed at making Colorado a "right to work" state. Not very progressive. Here's the Denver Post take on it: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_9068698
8

LisaGreim

05/22/08 | Report as spam

Did you read the story you linked?

It says right there that Molson Coors management, and CEO Leo Kiely, has officially come out against the right-to-work measure. And it quotes Dan Baum, who wrote a book about Coors, that the beermaker divorced itself from politics in the early 1990s to try to repair the damage to the brand from the family's neocon and anti-union activism.

Molson Coors is pretty OK as corporations go. They treat both blue- and white-collar workers well, by all accounts. What the various cousins, nephews and ex-wives do with their money is not relevant.

The right-to-work bill doesn't stand a chance, by the way. Unions have very little presence in Colorado, and your run-of-the-mill voter doesn't care one way or the other. But the Denver Post's owner, Dean Singleton, is rabidly anti-union, which has colored its editorial stance on the issue.

And I'm a former member of the Denver Newspaper Guild/CWA, not an apologist for right-to-work, if that matters.