<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.brandiron.net/branding/3032/attachment/co-brand/" rel="attachment wp-att-3039"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-3039" title="CO brand" src="http://www.brandiron.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/CO-brand-1024x670.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="418" /></a></p>
Alert to all things about branding, I collided into this “<a href="http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/corporate-states-america-map-shows-each-states-most-famous-brand-150794" target="_blank">Corporate States of America</a>” map, featuring the most famous or well-known brands of each of the 50 states. Due to partiality to my home state, I naturally zeroed in on the Coors logo inhabiting Colorado on the map. As a frequent Coors Field and Coors Brewery goer, the Coors brand has interlaced itself into my personal history. Aside from my own connection, I was curious to find out how Coors developed into such an iconic brand.

That’s when I discovered the <em>Coors mystique</em>.

From 1873 to 1981, Coors exclusively sold its “Brewed with Pure Rocky Mountain Spring Water” Banquet Beer west of the Mississippi. Tourists, friends and relatives—even actor Paul Newman and Presidents Ford and Eisenhower—would smuggle the highly coveted beverage back to the East coast, only to be left in dismay when it spoiled without refrigeration.

Then in 1981, Coors expanded its distribution to the rest of the U.S. population in response to the changing brewing industry and marketplace. For the first time, Coors needed a broader product line–and a marketing department–to stave off the emerging competition. Any mystique that Coors lost was sacrificed for long-term survival.

Today, Coors still evolves with changes in the brewing landscape. Yet, the brand’s core values have remained intact from merging with Miller (now MillerCoors) to catering to the wave of craft beer connoisseurs with a branch of Belgian-style pale ales called <em><a href="http://www.bluemoonbrewingcompany.com/OurBeers/Product/belgian-white-belgian-style-wheat-ale" target="_blank">Blue Moon</a></em>.

This past May, the <a href="http://colorado.rockies.mlb.com/col/ballpark/information/index.jsp?content=blue_moon" target="_blank">Blue Moon Brewing Co. at The SandLot</a> became a daily, year-round spot at Coors Field, serving that luscious blend of citrus and wheat where it was born 18 years ago. Since the Blue Moon brand does not advertise the <a href="http://www.coors.com/agegate/" target="_blank">Coors Brewing Co.</a> on its label, many fans of the orange slice-paired brew do not even know it is related to Coors. As Blue Moon camouflages into this inflow of entrepreneurial microbreweries, Coors still carries on a mystique. What will be next?
<div>Read more:</div>
<div><a href="http://blogs.westword.com/cafesociety/2010/07/coors_history_the_top_ten_mome.php" target="_blank">Coors history: the top ten moments</a></div>
<div><a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2206&amp;dat=19791105&amp;id=lNYzAAAAIBAJ&amp;sjid=dOsFAAAAIBAJ&amp;pg=1434,1786405" target="_blank">Coors mystique fades</a></div>
<div><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2013/05/02/blue-moon-brewery-now-a-full-time.html?page=all" target="_blank">Blue Moon Brewery now a full-time presence at Coors Field </a></div>
<div><a href="http://www.beerscribe.com/2007/08/30/the-curious-case-of-blue-moon/" target="_blank">The Curious Case of Blue Moon</a></div>