There are many reasons I love to travel. See new places, experience new people and cultures, sample new foods, and yes, I love sampling new beers. OK, I admit it: I’m a beer drinker and have been since even well before reaching the age of majority. Offended? Call a cop. The Statute of Limitations on underage beer drinking has long expired for me. Moving on to the more recent past, I was just in Chile. As I wandered through the capitol city of Santiago, the surf village of Pichilemu, and on up to the Atacama Desert and town of San Pedro, I enjoyed Escudo, Cristal, Royal Guard, and other cervezas that the country has to offer. So imagine my surprise when I entered a botilleria (Spanish for “bottle store”) in San Pedro and saw six packs of Coors Light available. Ummm, how can that be, I ask? Didn’t think much about it, took a picture, and went on about my business.
Fast forward a few days. After leaving the area, heading back to Santiago for the Chile-Argentina World Cup qualifying match, and then being transported down to the iconic beach town of Vina del Mar, I checked in to the beautiful Sheraton Miramar Hotel. Fabulous property. Built on a cliff right on the Pacific Ocean, my upper floor room and balcony opened right out high above, and over, the water with a view of ships at sea, spectacular sunsets, and, very important, an in room mini bar. On my first evening, when I opened the refrigerator to enjoy a cold beer and the sunset, there they were: two ice cold Coors products. A long neck Coors Light and, what I thought was a long neck Coors Banquet. Somebody must have told hotel management I was coming. Told them I have been a consumer of Coors products all my life. How I love the company and the products it produces.
But how can that be? I understood the Coors Light. It is produced in many places, brewed to specifications and shipped to areas all over the world. But Banquet? I thought my buddy, Pete Coors, chairman of Coors Brewing Company, told me the Banquet would only be produced in Golden, Colorado with Rocky Mountain spring water. So I drank it, enjoyed it, took a picture of the bottle, and returned to Colorado………and called Pete. Pete, help me out, how can this be that I drank a Banquet in Chile? “You didn’t” he replied, and then proceeded to explain. As Coors was growing, expanding, becoming a player on the world wide beer scene, executives at the brewery realized that they needed a premium beer that could go along with Coors Light and could be distributed all over the world. Thus they created Coors 1873, a premium lager, that could be produced at the brewing facility in Georgia and distributed world wide. Named after the year when Adolph Coors founded the company, a pasteurization process was added (Coors Banquet is not pasteurized) to insure the quality for shipping. I’m happy to report: it worked. It’s fabulous.
So check out the pictures. The picture with two bottles, the beers in Chile. The photo of a single beer, a Coors Banquet about to be enjoyed in Castle Rock, Colorado. You can see the difference in the premium label, and you might even be able to see where I was initially confused. However, it’s nice to know that I can enjoy my beloved Coors products in all fifty US states as well as over fifty countries across the globe. Oh sure, I will still be trying the local brews whenever I travel, even if Coors is available (please don’t tell Pete), but it’s nice to know that I may be able to “fall back” on my favorite Coors products as I wander.
