Golden residents and brewery visitors likely have noticed the giant mural being painted on the side of the Coors Brewery.

It’s going to be a site to see when completed.

In honor of the Coors Brewery celebrating 150 years of making beer, Molson Coors Beverage Co. is honoring the Golden brewery’s iconic history with the creation of a custom artwork piece designed by Colorado-native and muralist Julia Williams.

Williams, aka “The Designosaur,” is taking inspiration from Colorado’s vibrant landscape, sunsets and landmarks to incorporate into the mural — the largest one she’s ever done.

The 7,425 square-foot mural will live on the side of the building closet to the intersection of Ford Street and 13th Street.

“Oh, my, GOSH, what a dream to get to paint on the Coors Brewery,” Williams said after receiving word she’d be the artist to paint the mural.

The mural will be bright, colorful and show off two painting styles — realism and fantastical realism — with the Coors logo as the focal point and beer ingredients barley and hops complimenting the logo to make the mural stand out.

The Coors Brewery mural is so large Williams hired four other artists to help paint it.

Williams attended Colorado State University and studied graphic design, then worked for eight years designing and illustrating projects, with the thought she’d be doing design work long term.

“(But) there was just something inside me that said I needed to try mural painting,” Williams said.

After painting a friend’s basement, Williams earned an opportunity to get to Crush Walls, Colorado’s largest urban art event that brings art to the streets. That experience became her first foray into spray paint.

“I fell in love with it,” she said, adding she now mostly uses the medium to create her murals.

Embracing the mural in the Golden community

“How do we beautify the brewery and make the community connection that for one, helps celebrate the last 150 years, but also gives a nod to the next 150 years?,” Molson Coors Community Affairs Manager Lacey Golonka said.

Partnering with the Golden Civic Foundation, Molson Coors wanted to do something bigger for 2023.

Molson Coors contributed $50,000 to the Foothills Art Center through its B.I.G. (Big Ideas in Golden) Grant partnership. The mural is one of the ways the brewer is investing into the city.

“We knew from the start with (selecting) the muralist the No. 1 thing was they had to be local,” Golonka said. “And also who understood that community and culture, and when we saw Julia’s submission, we realized quickly that she aligned perfectly with what our company is looking for that nods to the legacy of the iconic Coors logo.”

Even before the mural’s inception began, Golden residents were talking about ways to beautify the brewery. However, Golonka said since Julia’s team has been so quick to put up the mural, feedback has come in mostly via pictures of the progress as the unveiling date nears.

The mural will be unveiled Sept. 22. Molson Coors also has plans for a street festival Sept. 30.

Celebration 150 of Coors Brewery, Sept. 30:

Street Festival:

• Washington Ave between 11th & 13th streets
• 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30
• Live music throughout the day, beer and non-alcoholic stations, food trucks, open to the public, family-friendly

Beer Garden:

• Parfet Park (10th Street and Ford Street)
• Noon to 6 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 30
• Picnic seating, community mural and family-friendly

Evening Concert:

• Clear Creek parking lot, Vasquez Street adjacent parking lots
• 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30

150 years of history

The Adolph Coors Brewing Co. has a rich history, starting in 1868, when Prussian stow away Adolph Coors boarded a steamship for Baltimore, Maryland. By 1873, Coors had migrated West — to Colorado — and began brewing beer in the defunct Golden City Tannery building, which was converted into a brewery and started producing beer commercially in 1874.

Over its 150 history — including the failed kidnapping and murder of Adolph Coors III in Feb. 1960 — the brewery, who has been through two world wars and the prohibition era, introduced the first all-aluminum two-piece can, had a baseball stadium named after the family and even experimented with the infamous clearmalt beverage, Zima.

The original Coors company merged with Montreal-based Molson Brewery in 2005, creating the existing company. Officials moved the company’s headquarters away from Denver to Chicago in 2019, but continued to invest in the Coors Brewery building and property in Golden with upgrades in 2020.

Peter H. Coors, 76, left the board as chairman of the Molson Coors Beverage Co. (NYSE: TAP) three years ago. Before that, he chaired MillerCoors. Different company names after acquisitions, but it’s essentially the Adolph Coors Brewing Co. founded three years before Colorado became a state. He remains a board member.

“It really sets Golden up for the next 50 years. When you look at what we are doing, we will continue having to invest capital here for many years. But this really sets Golden up to be able to compete in our network across America,” Coors told the Denver Business Journal before he stepped down. “It makes the Coors family happy. It was a really strong statement by Gavin (Hattersley CEO) and his team about the importance of Golden.”

And now the Coors Brewery mural is taking its place in the brewery’s history.

“As the mural is completed and people can see it,”Golonka said, “I think the design really preserves the rich Golden culture.”