Constellation Brands, the beer company behind Modelo, Corona and Pacifico in the U.S., is appealing the preliminary injunction that keeps it tied to Coors Distributing Co. in the Denver area. Brewbound reported the appeal on Wednesday, Nov. 11, noting that it comes weeks after the dispute appeared headed to arbitration.
Coors Distributing, known as CDC, is a Denver-based wholesaler owned by Molson Coors. The fight is over whether Constellation can walk away from CDC without cause, and it is turning into an early test of how Colorado’s beer franchise rules apply to a supplier that wants out.
The Coors Distributing appeal
Constellation is challenging last month’s Denver District Court ruling that temporarily blocked its planned exit from Coors Distributing pending arbitration, according to Beer Business Daily. The trade newsletter, citing Law360, said Constellation filed a notice of appeal asking the Colorado Court of Appeals to decide whether a Denver judge “improperly blocked it from terminating its 18-year-long distribution contract” with CDC. Constellation is also asking for the injunction to be put on hold while the appeal plays out, the newsletter reported, which would loosen its tie to Coors Distributing in the meantime.
The full Brewbound, Beer Business Daily and Law360 reports sit behind paywalls, and we did not obtain the appeal filing itself. So we are not reporting the exact filing date, the arguments in Constellation’s brief or a schedule for the appeals court. Constellation had not commented publicly on the appeal in any source we found.
How the Constellation and Coors Distributing fight started
Constellation tried to cancel its CDC distribution agreement in September, BusinessDen reported. CDC answered with two emergency lawsuits filed late on Friday, Sept. 25, one against Constellation and one against Mark Anthony Brands, the White Claw and Mike’s Hard Lemonade company that was also leaving, according to BusinessDen’s Sept. 29 report.
In the Constellation case, CDC told Judge Adam Espinosa it would “lose its decades-long distribution rights to some of the most valuable beer brands in the country, including Modelo, Corona and Pacifico,” and that “customer relationships and goodwill built over 30 years cannot be adequately compensated by money.” Note the two different numbers: CDC describes a relationship of about 30 years, while the Law360 account quoted by Beer Business Daily describes an 18-year contract. The public reports do not explain the gap.
On Wednesday, Oct. 28, Espinosa granted the preliminary injunction. “Constellation products that Coors Distributing Company distributes represent a significant portion of CDC’s distribution business,” he wrote, per BusinessDen. “CDC is at risk of significant reputational harm and termination of other distribution agreements.” The order bars Constellation from canceling the contract until an arbitrator decides whether it had the right to end the deal without cause. CDC had warned that losing the contract would cost it more than $100 million, BusinessDen reported.
Beer Marketer’s Insights framed the case around key questions about Colorado franchise law and how the CDC contract lines up with it, and noted the judge pointed to the contract’s arbitration requirement.
Mark Anthony took the arbitration route
The parallel case went differently. In a brief joint filing on Monday, Nov. 2, CDC and Mark Anthony told the court they had agreed on terms allowing an arbitrator to resolve their dispute and asked the judge to cancel a scheduled hearing, Beer Marketer’s Insights reported. Brewbound’s framing that the Constellation case had also appeared headed for arbitration now has a complication: the appeal.
What to watch
For now, the injunction stands unless a court pauses it, which means Coors Distributing is still the Denver-area wholesaler for Constellation’s beers. The next markers are whether the court grants the stay Constellation requested and how quickly the Colorado Court of Appeals takes up the case. Constellation has not publicly named a replacement distributor in any report we found.
The fight lands in a rough year for Molson Coors, which recently cut its 2026 forecast on soft beer demand. Constellation has reshaped its beer business before, from its 2019 sale of Ballast Point to the later sale of its Daleville brewery to New Belgium. And as in the Lone Pine founders lawsuit, the claims on each side stay claims until a judge or arbitrator rules.
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