Latest / Family Business Stories with Fexingo: Succession, Legacy, and Multi-Generational Companies / How the Molson Family Brewed a Beer Empire Across Centuries
Transcript
- Lucas: If you're standing in a bar in Toronto or Montreal and you order a Molson Canadian, you're drinking a beer that's been brewed by the same family since 1786. That predates Confederation by eighty-one years, and it's a stretch that covers seven generations. Luna: Seven generations is almost unheard of in North America. Most family businesses don't survive past the third. Lucas: Right, and the Molsons are the exception that proves the rule. The brewery was founded by John Molson, who was just eighteen years old when he arrived in Montreal from England with a small inheritance. He built a brewery on the St. Lawrence River, and within a decade, he was the largest brewer in Lower Canada. Luna: And he didn't just stop at beer — I remember reading that he also started the first steamship service on the St. Lawrence and helped found the first railway in Canada. Lucas: Exactly. John Molson was a classic industrialist of that era — brewer, banker, steamship owner, railroad builder. But the key insight for today is how the family managed succession across generations that faced very different challenges. The Molsons had a century-long head start before the big American brewers like Anheuser-Busch even existed. Lucas: By the 1860s, the third generation was in charge, and the brewery was producing over a hundred thousand barrels a year. That made it one of the largest in North America. But the real test came in the early twentieth century — prohibition. Luna: How did they survive that? Most Canadian breweries either shut down or pivoted to near-beer and soft drinks. Lucas: They did pivot to soft drinks and malt extract, but they also had a geographic advantage. Prohibition in Canada was a provincial patchwork — Quebec was much less strict than Ontario. So Molson kept brewing in Montreal and shipped legally within Quebec and to the US, where demand never really dried up. Luna: That's the sort of adaptability that keeps a family business alive across a century. Lucas: It is. And the Molsons showed that again after World War Two. In 1945, they made a decision that was controversial inside the family: they took the company public. They listed on the Montreal Stock Exchange and sold about forty percent of the shares. The family kept control, but they raised capital to modernize the brewery at a time when the Canadian beer market was about to consolidate. Luna: If today was actually useful to you, the way these stay ad-free is listener support — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. We keep the show independent that way. Lucas: Yeah, exactly. Just a small way to keep these deep dives coming. So back to the Molsons — going public in 1945 was a smart move. It gave them the capital to buy smaller competitors and expand nationally. Lucas: By the 1970s, Molson was one of the big three Canadian brewers, alongside Labatt and Carling. They had a dominant position in Quebec and Ontario, but the industry was consolidating fast. In the 1980s, foreign brewers started buying in — Philip Morris bought Miller, and then tried to enter Canada. Luna: And that's when the family really had to decide what they wanted to be — independent players or part of a global giant. Lucas: Right. The fifth and sixth generations chose independence, but they knew they needed scale. So in 2005, they merged with Coors, creating Molson Coors. The merger was structured so that the Molson family kept a significant stake — about thirty-five percent of the voting power — and the family chairman, Eric Molson, stayed on the board. Luna: That's a delicate balance. You want the benefits of a global platform, but you don't want to lose the family identity or control. Lucas: Exactly. And the Molsons put a lot of thought into that. They created a family constitution — a formal document that governs how family members can join the board, how shares are transferred, and what happens if someone wants to sell. It's not unlike the constitutions you see in European family dynasties like Henkel or Wallenberg. Luna: Can you give a specific example of what's in that constitution? Lucas: Sure. One key rule is that any family member who wants to serve on the board must have relevant business experience — you can't just be a descendant. They also have a family council that meets regularly to discuss the business and family values. And there's a clear policy on dividends: the family doesn't take excessive payouts that would weaken the company. That discipline is why they've been able to reinvest in the business for over two centuries. Luna: So it's not just about keeping the name on the label — it's about active, responsible ownership. Lucas: Exactly. And it's worked. Today, Molson Coors is one of the largest brewers in the world, with brands like Miller Lite, Coors Light, and Blue Moon. The Molson family still holds roughly ten percent of the equity but controls about thirty percent of the voting power through a dual-class share structure. Luna: That's a structure that often gets criticized in corporate governance debates. How do the Molsons justify it? Lucas: They argue that the long-term perspective of a family owner is an asset, not a liability. When the 2008 financial crisis hit, Molson Coors didn't cut its marketing budget or slash R&D — they stayed the course. The family's time horizon is decades, not quarters. And the data backs them up: according to a study by Credit Suisse, family-controlled companies outperform their peers over long periods, especially during downturns. Luna: But there have been stumbles too, right? I remember that in the 2010s, Molson Coors struggled as craft beer ate into the market share of traditional lagers. Lucas: That's fair. The company was slow to respond to the craft beer boom. Their revenue in North America peaked around 2014 and then declined for several years as consumers shifted to smaller local brands. But the family's long-term approach meant they could invest in a turnaround — they bought craft brands like Hop Valley and Terrapin, and they launched their own innovations like Vizzy hard seltzer. Luna: So they adapted, but it took time. That's the flip side of a family-controlled board — decisions can be slower. Lucas: It can be. But compare Molson to Labatt, which was sold to Belgian brewer InBev in 1995. Labatt's brand equity has been diluted, and the brewery in London, Ontario, no longer has any family connection. Molson, by contrast, still has family members involved — the seventh generation is now coming into the business. Luna: Is there a specific seventh-generation member who's already in leadership? Lucas: Yes. Geoff Molson, who is the sixth generation, is currently the chairman. But his cousin, Andrew Molson, is also on the board, and there are several younger Molsons working in various roles. The family is very deliberate about grooming the next generation — they have a mentorship program, and they encourage family members to work outside the company first before joining the family business. Luna: That's a best practice you hear a lot in family business literature. It's risky to bring someone straight in from university. Lucas: Absolutely. And the Molsons have had their share of family drama over the years. In the 1990s, there was a public feud between cousins over the direction of the company. One branch wanted to sell, another wanted to stay independent. That conflict actually led to the creation of the family constitution — it was a way to formalize the rules so that future disagreements wouldn't threaten the business. Luna: So the constitution was born out of crisis, not calm. Lucas: Exactly. And that's a lesson that applies to any family business — write down the rules when things are going well, because when a crisis hits, it's too late to negotiate. The Molson constitution has been revised a few times, but it's served as a governance backbone for over twenty years. Lucas: One more thing that stands out about the Molsons is their philanthropy. The family has donated hundreds of millions to Canadian institutions — the Molson Prize for the Arts, the Molson Medical Centre at McGill, and major gifts to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. That's a way of cementing the family's legacy beyond the brewery. Luna: It's also smart branding. When Canadians see the Molson name on a hospital wing, it reinforces the idea that the family is part of the country's fabric. Lucas: Right. And that goodwill matters when you're selling a product that's essentially a commodity. I think the Molson story is ultimately about intentionality — each generation made deliberate choices about capital, control, and culture. They went public but kept control. They merged but kept a seat at the table. They modernized but kept the family values. Luna: And they're now in their seventh generation. That's a rare and impressive run. I wonder if the eighth generation will have the same commitment. Lucas: That's the question. The beer industry is facing new headwinds — declining consumption among younger drinkers, regulatory pressure on alcohol marketing, and the rise of cannabis beverages. But if the past two centuries are any guide, the Molsons will adapt. They've been brewing through war, prohibition, consolidation, and craft disruption. A few more trends probably won't stop them.