(Courtesy Molson Coors)

Slacker beer brands like Pabst Blue Ribbon or even Narragansett better take notice, because Gen-Z has made this “Old West” beer cool again.

Here’s the deal…

When one thinks Coors, more times than not, its Molson Coor’s flagship beer, Coors Light  comes to mind. That’s not surprising, after all it’s the fourth bestselling beer in America, and has been for a while.

But there’s another Coors brand with a rich western heritage, Coors Banquet Beer, which has been brewed for almost 150 years. It’s aligned itself with a rich western vibe and having a terrific year.

Coors Banquet spent 2023 celebrating the brewery’s 150th year and became a top volume gainer in all of beer along the way.

Now Coors Banquet has another impressive win to add to the list: it is the fastest-growing beer among legal drinking-age Gen Z, posting a 32% increase versus the previous year according to a Circana Receipt Panel for the last 52 weeks ending 12/1/24.

“This beer was born more than 150 years ago and has stayed true to its legacy every single day since 1873,” Senior Marketing Manager Alyssa Lynner told Beer & Beyond. “We still use only 100% Rocky Mountain water and only brew our beer in Golden, CO. That commitment to who we are is attractive to a lot of people, including legal drinking-age Gen Z.”

Plus nothing helps beer sales like joining forces with the right entertainment vehicle. And its many appearances on shows the American neo-Western TV saga Yellowstone or Netflix Cobra Kai have given the beer the kind of pop-cultural exposure that many marketing mavens could only dream of.

The beer has also tapped into the “cowboy culture” boom.

Cowboy Culture officially became cool again in 2023, with top fashion designers unveiling lines inspired by the Old West and  Barbie, one of the year’s hottest movies, featuring a bubble-gum pink cowboy hat.

Coors Banquet’s strong foundation in the West, from only being produced in Colorado to supporting sports like rodeo, has meant that the brand naturally fit right in with that young-end trend. That also helps explain why sales from the Coors Banquet merch site are up over 150% versus last year.

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