Tank Cars of Beer?!!?

On Bob & Tom this morning, they talked about a train wreck that included a Coor's tank car of beer. What???

Sure enough, here the link to the story, including a picture of one of the biggest "heads" you'll ever see.

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=70643

Looked a little further. Each tanker contains 11,000 gallons.

Wonder what do they do with it at the destination.

Roger, got any info?

Another useless tidbit: For several years beginning in 1934 Adolph Coors Company had a fleet of 30 rail cars to transport its product in the Rocky Mountain area. Today 70 percent of Coors beer is shipped in insulated rail cars to all parts of the United States. Every day two trains of about 50 cars each leave Golden, each containing 172,000 sixpacks of beer.

Coors ships their beer in bulk to one of the Coors packaging plants for bottling, canning, and kegging. I'm not sure how many packaging plants they own.

11,000 gallons is a bit more than we brewed all last year.

Like Dave said, it's common to ship beer in bulk for packaging. Many years ago while traveling in the old Soviet Union, we were surprised to see a small tanker truck (Dave - the size of Ed Bailey's water truck in G-town) marked "PIVO" (beer) roll up to a streeside kiosk, roll out a hose, and begin pumping beer into an underground tank.

Later people lined up to pay a few kopecks for the privilege of drinking some of it in communal cups.

Me included.

I thought Coor's states that their beer stays cold from production to delivery. Maybe I'm wrong but I had this impression. If so, how does it stay cold in an insulated rail car if it's not refridgerated?

Insulated tank cars are commonplace. They have a layer of insulation between the inner lining and the outer hull of the car.

Chalk that cold thing down to good advertising and bad execution.

Just locally, Coors is delivered on non-refrigerated trucks, so it's delivered to us warm. Then think of how many grocery stores you see it piled up warm as well. Needless to say, none of the bottles that get delivered to my store have "blue labels" that tell you its cold enough to drink until it goes into my beer cooler.

In talking to the distributors, they get the beer freighted to them on non-refrigerated trucks, so it is warm when it gets to them as well....

I think the only time you will see Coors Light shipped cold is when that Silver Bullet train in the commercials flashes by on your television screen.

11,000 gallons is a bit more than we brewed all last year.

Today 70 percent of Coors beer is shipped in insulated rail cars to all parts of the United States. Every day two trains of about 50 cars each leave Golden, each containing 172,000 sixpacks of beer.

Doing the math, one trainload a day (assuming 12-ounce cans) equals 96,750 gallons x 2 = 193,500 per day -- and that's only 70%!!!

I've got a headache!

In talking to the distributors, they get the beer freighted to them on non-refrigerated trucks, so it is warm when it gets to them as well....

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I think we need to make a distinction regarding draft beer and package beer. As a distributor who sells many brands including Coors, I can tell you that nearly all draft beer comes to us refrigerated. Exceptions tend to be those import kegs that take really long boat rides to get here. Most if not all package beer is shipped warm.
Until very recently, Coors required all of its distributors to store product in a refrigerated warehouse. The first time that the product would get warm was when it was delivered to retail.

In talking to the distributors, they get the beer freighted to them on non-refrigerated trucks, so it is warm when it gets to them as well....

.

Until very recently, Coors required all of its distributors to store product in a refrigerated warehouse. The first time that the product would get warm was when it was delivered to retail.

I agree with you completely on the draft product... all kegs are stored cold. I've been to two distributors here in Indiana that carried Coors products and none of the canned or bottled packages were stored in a refrigerated area. And honestly, it really does not matter. As long as the beer does not sit in direct sunlight, or go through extreme temperature changes, you are not going to hurt it. Most beer has been warm and cold several times before it hits the retailer or bar, and that is where Coors gets my goat with their marketing.

When you "frost brew," "warm shipping" doesn't fit the marketing paradigm.

Except, of course, when consumers are too stupid to notice.

I wouldn't say consumers are stupid, most are fairly savvy and in this case it's slick marketing that would mislead the vast majority that haven't seen the supply chain.

In talking to the distributors, they get the beer freighted to them on non-refrigerated trucks, so it is warm when it gets to them as well....

.

I think we need to make a distinction regarding draft beer and package beer. As a distributor who sells many brands including Coors, I can tell you that nearly all draft beer comes to us refrigerated. Exceptions tend to be those import kegs that take really long boat rides to get here. Most if not all package beer is shipped warm.
Until very recently, Coors required all of its distributors to store product in a refrigerated warehouse. The first time that the product would get warm was when it was delivered to retail.

Now I'm confused. What is the ultimate product of the beer in the train tank cars?

Now I'm confused. What is the ultimate product of the beer in the train tank cars?

I believe Ryan was trying to distinguish earlier was draft beer (going into a keg of beer) and bottled or canned beer. I believe most of the kegging of beer occurs at the brewery, but Coors, and many other large breweries, have another plant that actually puts the liquid into cans and bottles. My assumption is the contents of the train car were heading to one of Coors' numerous bottling/canning plants to then be packaged for the consumer.

I'm not sure in the case of the larger breweries like Bud, Miller, & Coors, but in the micro-brewing world, there are usually two different recipes for draft beer and what is bottled/canned. Roger might be able to explain that further.

Since we don't bottle, I'll turn that one over to David Pierce.

[quote="Todd Antz]I'm not sure in the case of the larger breweries like Bud, Miller, & Coors, but in the micro-brewing world, there are usually two different recipes for draft beer and what is bottled/canned. Roger might be able to explain that further.[/quote]

Nope, not true. Draft and bottles come from the same tank and the same recipe. Some larger Craft breweries "may" sterile filter and/or pastuerize the bottle product.