On Tuesday morning the ribbon was officially cut at Molson CoorsFraser Valley Brewery in Chilliwack, 100km west of Vancouver, British Columbia. Construction on the CDN 300 million (USD 226m) facility was announced in August 2016 and started in April 2017.
The investment became necessary after Molson Coors closed a deal in early 2016 to sell for CDN185 million (USD 140m) its existing three-hectare brewery site in Vancouver to a developing company to transform one of the city’s last remaining industrial sites into a mixed-use residential neighborhood. (inside.beer, 8.5.2017). Production continued at the nearly 60 year old Vancouver brewery under a lease agreement until the new brewery became now operational.
The new brewery, which is the newest and most modern brewery in Molson Coors Brewing Company's world-wide network of 29 breweries, will be Molson Coors’ only brewery west of Toronto and fulfills the supply needs for the Western Canadian market and much of the United States.
The brewery will set a new standard for sustainability. Compared to the recently closed Vancouver brewery, the new modern Fraser Valley Brewery at Chilliwack will reduce energy use by 20% and water by 40%. The Chilliwack brewery will be equipped with improved technologies that will deliver on reduced energy consumption, CO2 emissions and carbon footprint, such as optimized equipment layouts to reduce beer loss and waste, and a state-of-the-art CO2 recovery system.
"This modern brewery continues the long-standing commitment to our environment with sustainability at the heart of our operational excellence and efficiencies in our brewing and distribution operations," said Frederic Landtmeters, president and CEO of Molson Coors Canada who was joined for this milestone occasion by Andrew Molson, chairman of the board at Molson Coors Brewing Company, along with Pete Coors, vice chairman of the board, board member Geoff Molson, members of the Molson Coors Canada management team, local dignitaries and employees.
"It is a true honor to have witnessed such an historic event. Our two founding families, Molson and Coors, represent two of the longest standing family brewing names in North America and beyond. Today marks the continuation of our rich heritage and we couldn't be prouder to stand together in British Columbia on this important occasion in our brewing history", said Andrew Molson, seventh-generation member of the Molson family.
Molson Coors has another important project underway. The company announced plans in 2017 to close its 231-year-old brewery in downtown Montreal, the oldest brewery in North America, and build a new one nearby (inside.beer, 17.7.2017).
In June this year, a group of developers purchased the 1.2 million square feet of land from Molson Coors Canada for CDN126 million (USD 95m). According to the projections, the developers plan to construct on the site 4,000 to 5,000 housing units, as well as several commercial buildings until 2035.
Molson Coors operates through Molson Coors Canada, MillerCoors in the U.S., Molson Coors Europe and Molson Coors International. Brands include Coors Light, Coors Banquet, Miller Lite, Molson Canadian, Carling, Staropramen, Sharp's Doom Bar, Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy, Blue Moon Belgian White, Hop Valley, Creemore Springs, and Crispin Cider, Molson Coors was in 2016 the world’s fifth largest brewer with a production of 95.2 million hectoliters behind market leaders AB InBev, Heineken, Carlsberg and China Resource Snow.
