Coors freetrade customers will soon be able to order from a new range of premium products.
But they will be doing so from the Molson Coors Brewing Company, the company having announced a change of name, effective from today (March 31).
Spring 2009 will see the launch of 'The Premium Collection from Coors', a selection of beers, wines, ciders and spirits seemingly brought into to compete with other wholesalers' similar product ranges - such as Mathew Clark's Icon product list.
The Premium Collection includes Tanqueray Ten Gin, Grey Goose Vodka, Hennessy XO Cognac, champagne beer Kasteel Cru, wheat beer Grolsch Weizen, and bottle-conditioned ale Worthington's White Shield. The wine range is filled out by a dry and light Sancerre Rosé, a Piemonte classic, the full and delicate Gavi di Gavi, a South African Mourvedre, and a selection of marques from the most celebrated Champagne houses.
They will be available through Coors new online ordering system Coors Direct, as well as conventional channels.
Coors free on-trade sales director Steve Ellis said: "We have listened and collaborated with our customers, consulted category experts from across the industry and drawn on the expertise of our existing relationships with major brand owners. We believe this range can add value to the consumer offer in today's challenging market place, ultimately driving incremental profit for our customers businesses."
The change of name, which will not have any effect on trading, has been done to "clearly signal our company's parentage", according to chief executive Mark Hunter. The company formed when Canadian-based Molson Inc and Colorado's The Adolph Coors Company merged in 2005.