After its founding in 1976, the original California Cooler exploded on the beverage market when Lodi High School friends, Michael Crete and R. Stuart Bewley,[1] and their original partners (mostly friends and family) raised $140,000 to begin commercial production.
In 1985, Crete and Bewley sold the company to liquor giant Brown-Forman Inc. in a deal valued up to $146 million.
The cooler craze of the mid-eighties was celebrated with an Ad campaign by Chiat Day, featuring beach life scenes.
Bartles & Jaymes, the second entrant into the wine cooler marketplace quickly came and took market share.
California Cooler volume had dropped to 5 million cases, less than one-third of what Seagram's and Gallo each were moving.