From: joseph@joebloe.maple-shade.nj.us (Joseph Nathan Hall)
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing,alt.beer
Subject: Coors & High-Gravity Brewing (long)
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 92 23:54:42 EDT
Organization: 5 Sigma Software
Reply-To: joseph@joebloe.maple-shade.nj.us
X-Mailer: uAccess - Macintosh Release: 1.5v5


                              * DISCLAIMER *

I picked up a leaflet containing the following text at a store in
Maryland the other day.  It is boldly emblazoned with the NATURAL LIGHT
logo, so you may want to carefully consider the viewpoint.

I would also add that I don't drink either beer and probably wouldn't
recommend anyone drink either one unless he or she doesn't much like the
taste of beer.

CERTAINLY this does not reflect my advertising any beer in particular.

I would also welcome the posting of any similar material reflecting
Coors' viewpoint.

In any event, this should help clear up some of the confusion about
this issue that has been a frequent thread lately ....

I typed this in a great hurry, at about 90 wpm, and probably with some 
weird typos.  Reader beware!

--------------

DON'T BE RAILROADED

WHERE DOES COORS BREW COORS LIGHT?

Most Coors Light sold in the Northeast is processed and packaged in
Elkton, Va.  Coors produces a concentrated form of beer in Colorado.
Coors ships some of that concentrated beer 1,500 miles by rail in
tanker cars which they prefer to call "rolling aging tanks" to Virginia.
There it is diluted at about a one-to-one ratio with local water,
packaged and then shipped for sale to beer drinkers in the Northeast.

DOES COORS SHIP BEER CONCENTRATE TO VIRGINIA?

Yes.  They'd rather call it "high-gravity" beer or "dense brew." 
But whatever you call it, the point is that Coors ships it across
the country and dilutes it with local water...not "Rocky Mountain"
water.

COORS SAYS A LOT OF THINGS TO PROMOTE ITS BEERS, BUT SOMETIMES WHAT
COORS DOESN'T SAY IS PRETTY INTERESTING.

While Coors talks about its "Rocky Mountain Legend" and uses promotional
phrases such as "Fresh from the Rockies Taste," what Coors DOES NOT
say is that about half the water in the Coors Light sold in the Northeast
is local water, not Rocky Mountain water.  They also don't say that
they ship a concentrated form of beer across country to be diluted
with local water.  In comparison, Natural Light is brewed from start
to finish and bottled in one of our local Anheuser-Busch breweries,
such as Newark.  Natural Light leaves the breweries finished and ready
to drink.

WHY DOES COORS FINISH SOME OF ITS BEER IN VIRGINIA?

To cut costs.  Beer is shipped unfinished from Golden to cut freight
costs, according to Coors' Elkton production manager in an article
published in the trade journal "Food Engineering International" in
June of 1988.

DOES THIS AFFECT THE TASTE OF BEER?

A flyer recently circulated by Coors said "NO."  Whether Colorado
water affects the taste of beer or not, Coors has continued to build
its reputation on the MYTH that its beers are made entirely with Rocky
Mountain water, which somehow makes better tasting beer.  So, out
of one side of their mouth, they say there's no difference.  Then,
out of the other side of their mouth they promote the "Taste of the
Rockies."  Which is it, Coors?

IS FILTERED BEER BETTER THAN PASTEURIZED BEER?

Pasteurization and cold filtration are equally beneficial ways to
preserve beer.  Anheuser-Busch proudly uses both techniques for different
beers.  Coors uses both methods, but apparently not so proudly.  On
one hand, Coors promotes Coors Light by saying it is cold filtered
and not pasteurized.  But, on the other hand, they don't tell beer
drinkers that some Coors beers are made and pasteurized at a brewery
in Memphis, Tennessee.  (By the way, there's no Rocky Mountain water
anywhere near Tennessee...is there, Coors?)

SO WHY HAS ANHEUSER-BUSCH "ATTACKED" COORS LIGHT?

Anheuser-Busch hasn't attacked Coors Light.  Anheuser-Busch simply
sought to tell Northeastern beer drinkers the truth about where their
beer was born...and raised.  For five years, Coors has been carefully
cultivating the belief that all Coors Light is made in the "Rockies,"
entirely with Rocky Mountain water, even though that is not true.

Anheuser-Busch aired a commercial for Natural Light beer which made
a simple and true comparison debunking the Rocky Mountain myth.  The
commercial told beer drinkers in the Northeast that most of the Coors
Light available to them was made from a concentrated form of beer,
shipped from Colorado to Virginia, where it is diluted with local
water, packaged and sold.  Anheuser-Busch asks why Coors continues
to market its beers under the slogans such as "Taste of the Rockies"
and "Fresh from the Rockies Taste."

WHAT DID COORS DO?

They sued.  In an attempt to keep their myth alive, they sued Anheuser-Busch
in federal court to keep the simple truth from beer drinkers.  That
truth is that not all Coors Light is made entirely in the "Rockies"
with only Rocky Mountain water.  The vast majority of Coors Light
sold in the Northeast starts out in Colorado, but is then shipped
to Virginia in railroad tankers and diluted, or "finished" if you
prefer, with local water, not Rocky Mountain water.

The U.S. District Court denied Coors' attempt to have the Natural
Light ad stopped.  Among other things, the court said: "After having
advertised for years that Coors beers tasted better than other beer
because Coors beers are made from Rocky Mountain Water, Coors now
cannot seek [a court order] that would prohibit [Anheuser-Busch's]
hoisting Coors by its own petard."

The phrase "hoisted by its own petard" means, "destroyed by the devices
with which one meant to destroy others," according to Webster's Dictionary.
Loosely translated, this means Coors stabbed themselves with their
own sword, or that their advertising has blown up in their face.

	[Typist's note: "petard" was an early form of grenade,
	 usually a black-powder-filled earthenware pot.  A short
	 fuse would suffice to hoist you on your own petard,
	 should you have one.]

WHAT SHOULD CONSUMERS DO?

Anheuser-Busch believes that beer drinkers want to know the truth
about how their beer is made.  They should have that truth, taste
a Natural Light, and decide for themselves.

uunet!joebloe!joseph   (609) 273-8200 day   joseph%joebloe@uunet.uu.net
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