Mexican Brew.

Hugo Patino keeps a head on Coors' sales.

WATER FROM COOL STREAMS IN THE Rocky Mountains filters through beds of sand and gravel on its way to the world's largest brewery: Special high-altitude barley arrives from fields in Colorado, Idaho and Wyoming. Hops, the main component for taste, comes in trucks from Washington and Oregon.

And ready at the post to turn the ingredients into Coors beer is a soft-spoken Mexican.

Colorado-based Coors Brewing Co. has grown from a single product, regional brewer to the No. 3 beer company in the United States, behind Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing. The company credits not only its ingredients, grown and processed locally, but its brewmaster, Hugo Patino.

The 48-year-old native of Monterrey oversees the company's Golden, Colorado, facility--the world's largest brewery on a single site.

The mild-mannered Patino is no stranger to beer. His grandfather founded one of Monterrey's first beer distributors 'for the national brewery known as Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc. His father carried on the beer tradition, eventually directing sales for the company now known as Cerveceria Cuauthtemoc Moctezuma.

"Ever since I was a kid I was in the middle of cases of beer," says Patino, who became intrigued with the brewing process when he was a youngster. "I'm not good at selling things, so I focused on brewing."

Patino worked odd jobs at the Mexican brewery while earning his bachelor's and master's degrees in chemical engineering from the Monterrey Institute of Technology After three years working at Cuauthtemoc, he left for the United States. He landed a job with Coors in 1984 in the research and development department. Within 10 years, he had worked his way to brewmaster.

Today, Patino monitors everything from the barley planting to the beer delivery. He's been recognized internationally for his innovation in brewing, designing a new fermentation control system. He also presides over the 3,300-member Master Brewers Association of the Americas and is credited with creating Coors' popular citric beverage, Zima.

"Hugo never talks about his achievements," says Lori Varsames, Coors corporate communications manager. "He is very passionate about his work."

But work is not all that interests him. He volunteers for the United Way, gives presentations to children and tackles an annual brewing class at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "I owe a lot of my success to this society and, ultimately, the success of this country depends on Mexico, and vice versa," he says. "The little things you can do make a big difference."

To that end, Patino helps Latin American immigrants interested in becoming U.S. citizens as part of a Coors-sponsored program that gives practice citizenship exams and guides people through the naturalization process.

He also is involved in the company's search for partners in Latin America. Coors products are available in parts of Mexico and South America, but its only significant presence is in Puerto Rico.

In beer-loving Latin America, the key to the company's success will depend on changing perceptions, says Patino.

"Light [beer] can convey the message of bland or weak in Latin America. The missing ingredient has been marketing," says Patino, who points to the company's success in Puerto Rico, where Coors Light brand nicknamed "The Silver Bullet" holds 50% of the island's beer market.

"When you get people to buy your ideas with their hearts and minds, boy, you have the ingredients for success," he says.