In the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, Molson Coors, the nation’s second biggest brewer, has  donated almost 280,000 cans of fresh water to help the residents living in Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida; Kingsport, Tennessee; and Asheville and Hickory in North Carolina.

Molson Coors senior manager of community affairs Michael Nordman told Beer & Beyond that Molson Coors is able to use water from one of its breweries to collect clean drinking water for disaster relief efforts throughout the year.

“Our Trenton, Ohio brewery sits on a natural aquifer. Every year, we shut down and clean one of our beer lines to produce high quality canned drinking water there to be used in times of emergency like right now, when residents across Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina and more are in dire need of fresh water.”

“But it really takes a village to get this together,” added Nordman.

Ball Corporation provided the cans, while Graphic Packaging International donated the 12-pack cartons.

(Courtesy Molson Coors)

To provide help after Hurricane Helene, Molson Coors worked with two Wisconsin-based logistics companies, C.H. Robinson and Millis Transfer, to help get close to 190,000 cans of water from its Milwaukee and Shenandoah breweries to the local distributors. The shipping was particularly complicated because floods had destroyed many of the normal routes.

To help residents in need after Hurricane Milton, Molson Coors is sending 90,000 cans of water from its Milwaukee and Golden breweries to J. J. Taylor Companies, Inc.’s Fort Myers warehouse. From there, it will be distributed to those in need along Florida’s west coast, including Tampa and St. Petersburg.

Molson Coors also donated $10,000 to World Central Kitchen in Asheville which was hit especially hard.

“They’ve been a leader on the ground to provide meals and water, which are most needed in that community right now.” says Nordman.

Molson Coors has a history of providing natural disaster relief. In 2017, Molson Coors established a partnership with the Ball Corporation. Since the partnership began, they’ve provided nearly three million cans of water to areas hit by natural disasters, like hurricanes, floods and wildfires.

“These are our communities and our neighbors,” Nordman added, “so where there is a need for canned water, we want to be able to respond quickly.”

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We can get snarky when it comes to big beer companies here at American Craft Beer. So it’s only fair that we showcase them when their actions deserve praise.

And Molson Coors hurricane efforts deserve praise.