$60 Million Upgrades Add Seltzer to Molson Coors Canada Breweries

Jan. 20, 2023

Chilliwack and Toronto breweries expand, so does Canadian market for hard seltzers.

Hard seltzers may be plateauing in the U.S., but their strength in Canada motivated Molson Coors to spend $60 million on two of its biggest Canadian facilities so they could produce a greater variety of alcoholic beverages, including hard seltzers.

The Toronto and Fraser Valley (Chilliwack) breweries are now producing malt- and spirits-based beverages, which include brands like Vizzy Hard Seltzer and Coors Seltzer, alongside their current brewing operations. The new beverages are destined for the Western and Central Canada markets.

In Chilliwack, which opened in 2019, new technologies decrease the company’s carbon footprint, as well as its energy and water consumption through practices such as carbon dioxide recycling techniques, thus reinforcing the brewery’s ESG initiatives in the local community.

The Toronto Brewery, founded in 1955, is Molson Coors’ biggest Canadian facility. It has the capacity to brew 28 different brands, and now adds 355ml cans to its list of production capabilities, specifically for hard seltzer and flavored-alcoholic beverages.

Molson Coors says the Canadian market for “ready-to-drink” beverages is currently estimated at 2.69 million hectoliters, and the company’s market share in the hard seltzer & soda segment is 13.8% and growing since September 2022.

About the Author

Dave Fusaro | Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.