Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

Bottoms Up: Inside Coors’ New $60 Whiskey Line

Matthew Denis
By
A glass of whiskey being pourn.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Molson Coors brewing will get into the hard stuff, debuting Five Trail whiskey, the company announced August 1. Debuting under the new Coors Whiskey Co. moniker, Five Trail will roll out September 1 at liquor retailers in four markets: Colorado, Georgia, Nevada, and New York. It’s one that the beverage company intends whiskey lovers to actually drink and enjoy, as opposed to stashing away. 

Created in partnership with Bardstown Bourbon Co. in Bardstown, Kentucky, Five Trail is a 95-proof, Colorado single-malt whiskey that combines three bourbons blended with Colorado’s crystal, alpine water. (A single malt is produced by a single distillery using only malted barley.) 

Related Guides

Recommended Videos

The “ultra-premium” whiskey is Molson Coors’ first full-strength spirit, meaning that Five Trail will hit the retail market in a limited supply, with prestige in mind. 

Related

“While whiskey drinkers are a very loyal group, discovery is a key theme. They love to explore, expand their collections and try new things,” Molson Coors marketing manager Kimberli Fox said in a statement. “That makes this a very interesting place for us to play as a beverage company.”  

This release represents the company’s latest venture beyond the beer cooler since it changed its handle from Molson Coors Brewing Co. to Molson Coors Beverage Co. to underscore a shift away from beer.

Five Trail represents another key part of a strategy to diversify its potent portfolio. Earlier this year, the company added CBD sparkling water to its many hard sodas and seltzers. The beverage behemoth even scored a distribution deal for an energy drink co-created by entertainment icon Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. 

The decision to wade into whiskey was due in part to the spirit’s growth over the last two decades, Fox said. According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, American-made whiskey sales have skyrocketed 227% since 2002, reaching $4.3 billion in sales in 2020. Aligning with its roots, Coors developed this with the Rocky Mountains and Kentucky Bluegrass in mind. 

“This is not just about acquiring a brand or working with a distiller on a blend,” Fox said. “This is a collaboration that marries Colorado provenance with innovative distilling techniques of pioneering Kentucky-based distillers.”

Coors Whiskey Co. is expected to release the limited-edition whiskeys at $60 per bottle. 

Read more: Classic Whiskey Cocktails Recipes

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Matthew Denis
Matthew Denis
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Matt Denis is an on-the-go remote multimedia reporter, exploring arts, culture, and the existential in the Pacific Northwest…
Americans to Buy More Mezcal and Tequila Than Whiskey In 2022
Mezcal from the Sierra Norte de Puebla served with cantaloupe and grasshoppers

For the first time, Americans are anticipated to spend more money on mezcal and tequila than they will on U.S.-made whiskeys or rum in 2022, according to a IWSR Drinks Market Analysis estimates. The British data and analytics firm estimates $13.3 billion in combined agave spirit sales versus $12.5 billion for vodka and $12.3 billion for whiskey. By 2023, IWSR estimates the agave category also will have supplanted vodka, making the potent distillation the U.S.’s most-purchased spirit.

What’s driving this proliferation? Similar to whiskey in the recent past, a number of drivers are escalating agave spirit popularity, including originality, product diversity, and consumer involvement.

Read more
New Orleans Fest Sets Sustainable Model In “Geauxing Green”
The French Quarter's Opening Day Parade

Mardi Gras may be the most iconic New Orleans celebration, but the Big Easy’s largest celebration of local music actually lands after Easter each year. Over four sound-stuffed days and nights, the French Quarter Festival features 1,700 musicians playing 400 hours of free, local music on 25 stages.

Former Mayor Ernest Nathan Morial, looking to maintain momentum from the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition, founded the French Quarter Festival in 1984. The French Quarter Fest has been the place to immerse in the city’s incredible distinct culture shaped by a dynamic gumbo of African American, Cajun, Caribbean, Creole, French, Spanish, and additional influences. Almost four decades later, organizers not only continued the gathering’s tradition in 2022 (post-pandemic shutdown), but they are shaping a sustainable future and acting as a model for brethren fetes with the Geauxing Green program.

Read more
What To Know About Yamakazi 55, a $60,000 Japanese Whisky Brewed in 1960
One of one hundred limited Yamakazi 55 Japanese Whisky bottles, retailing at a suggested $60,000.

One of one hundred limited Yamakazi 55 Japanese Whisky bottles, retailing at a suggested $60,000. Image used with permission by copyright holder

Interested in sipping 55-year-old Japanese Whisky? All you need is $60,000 to drop on one of 100 limited bottles of Yamazaki 55 from The House of Suntory Whisky.

Read more