More Than Beer, Molson Coors Expands In Ft. Worth

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groundbreaking Molson Coors warehouse
Photo courtesy Molson Coors

A New State of the Art Facility, Plus New Jobs

With the popularity of hard seltzer rising daily, it makes sense that more space is needed to put it.

So, as part of the company’s long-term plan to bring more hard seltzer production in-house, Molson Coors broke ground recently on a new $65 million variety packing warehouse in Fort Worth. The plan is to allow the Fort Worth Brewery to remove third-party vendors for final pack assembly to help alleviate shipping costs and improve time to market.

The warehouse, approximately 200,000 square feet in size will enhance the brewery’s ability to internalize storage, packaging, shipping, and logistics of variety packed can beverages, while bringing numerous additional jobs to the Fort Worth market. It will include a state-of-the-art variety pack system capable of packaging up to six different flavors in 12- or 24-pack configurations and repacking up to 1.5 million barrels annually.

The new warehouse, which will be located at 7259 South Will Rogers Blvd., may also be used for future brands the company develops as part of its ambition to expand its portfolio beyond the beer aisle.

“This expansion truly represents the next step toward strengthening our in-house hard seltzer capabilities, as its one of many recent investments we made at Fort Worth aimed at growing our above premium portfolio and transforming the company’s offerings to meet consumers’ changing preferences,” said Jim Crawford, vice president and plant manager, Molson Coors.

Hard Seltzer Category Is Growing Rapidly

The projects represent the latest investment by Molson Coors to grow its capabilities. In 2000, the company invested in capital projects to expand its U.S. hard seltzer production capacity by about 400%. In 2021, it quadrupled Canadian hard seltzer production and invested another $35 million in the U.K. to make a range of upgrades, including adding its first hard seltzer canning line.

“We’ve been a beer company for over 200 years and will continue to be a beer company, but people’s preferences are changing,” said Jennifer Martinez-Roth, Senior Director of Corporate Affairs. “We want to be ready to meet that demand, and that’s why this warehouse is so important.”

Martinez-Roth said the new warehouse, expected to be open by the first of the year, will allow for faster release of product to market and will alleviate shipping costs.

“It’s a great step for us,” she said, adding that it’s also great for Fort Worth because “It will bring dozens of new jobs to the area.”

Low Calorie, Low Sugar Beverages Are Popular

Hard seltzers are gaining popularity worldwide due to the rising preference for low-calorie and low-sugar alternative alcoholic drinks over traditional alcoholic beverages among the health-conscious demographics. According to the website GlobeNewsWire.com, the hard seltzer market will be worth around $57.34 billion by the year 2030.

Hard seltzer is a blend of carbonated water, alcohol, and flavoring (most often fruit), usually packaged in cans for portability. The flavor offerings differ by brand and range from basic flavors such as black cherry, lime, and ruby grapefruit to more elevated flavor profiles such as melon basil, lemon agave hibiscus, and cucumber peach. Hard seltzer alcohol by volume (ABV) usually ranges from 4%-6%, similar to most beers.

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Rick Mauch
Rick Mauch is a veteran of more than four decades in the media. He began writing in high school and immediately went into broadcasting for almost a decade after graduating, working his way to morning drive in Birmingham, Alabama. However, realizing how much he missed writing (though he did continue to do some during his time in top-40 radio), Rick returned to what he loved and has been doing it ever since. Rick's career has spanned a plethora of media outlets, including community journalism, sports, entertainment, politics and more. He's worked in print, broadcast and online media. He also spent several years doing public relations for a children's home in East Texas - still writing on the side, of course. When he's not writing, Rick loves to play golf and do Bigfoot research. He's an avid believer. He also made his first hole-in-one in June of 2020. Rick is married to Junell Mauch. They have five children and three granddaughters