Coors Original
From Beeripedia the Beer Wiki
Coors Original, the "Banquet Beer".
Smokey and the Bandit
Most of the movie is centered upon truck drivers Bo "Bandit" Darville (Burt Reynolds), and his partner Cledus "Snowman" Snow (Jerry Reed), with his Basset Hound named Fred, taking a shipment of 400 cases of Coors beer from Texarkana, Texas to Atlanta, Georgia. ("Bandit" and "Snowman" are the two men's CB radio handles, respectively). At the time, Coors wasn't available in the eastern U.S.; due to the arcane nature of state liquor taxes, it was illegal to ship it east of Texas. (In fact, Texarkana, Texas lies in Bowie County, Texas, which is a dry county. Texarkana, Arkansas is "wet", but Coors could not be shipped east of Texas. There was no Coors in Texarkana; the closest Coors would have been found in the small Cass County, Texas community of Domino.) Coors being illegal, it was necessary for the Snowman to drive the semi full of beer, while the Bandit drove the "blocker" (decoy) car, designed to take the attention of the police away from the truck and its illegal cargo. The term "Smokey" refers to the state troopers, whose hats are similar to those worn by park rangers and thus the character of Smokey Bear -- state troopers also being known as "Bears", as in the rebellious truck-themed song Convoy.
- The choice of Coors as the contraband of choice centered on the limited distribution of that brand across the country in the 1970's. The resulting inability to legally purchase Coors beer in many states resulted in a minor bootlegging fad, and many cross-country vacationers travelling by car were asked by friends and neighbors to bring back six-packs and cases of the beverage. The fad died out in the early 1980's when state and local issues that had previously prevented Coors distributorships from opening in and/or shipping to those regions were loosened and/or repealed.
