GOLDEN, Colo. -- Pete Coors, chairman of one of the world's largest beer brewing companies and a former candidate for U.S. senate, was arrested in May on a drunken driving charge, 7NEWS learned Thursday.

Coors, 59, was driving a 2004 Jaguar when he was pulled over in Golden by a Colorado State Patrol trooper just before midnight on May 29, according to officials in the Jefferson County District Court clerk's office.

Coors faces charges of driving under influence after registering a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit of .08 percent. He also was cited with failure to obey a traffic control device.

In a statement Coors said, "I made a mistake by driving myself home after a friend's wedding celebration. I should have planned ahead for a ride. For years I've advocated the responsible use of our company's products. That's still my message, and our company's message, and it's the right message. I am sorry that I didn't follow it myself."

"Coors Brewing Company is committed, more than ever, to the responsible use of our products, and so am I," he said.

He rolled through a stop sign a block from his home and was stopped by the officer in his driveway, company spokeswoman Kabira Hatland said. She said his blood-alcohol content following a breath test was 0.088, above the legal limit of 0.08.

Coors is driving with a 60-day provisional license, Hatland said. A hearing before motor vehicles department officials was scheduled for Friday.

He will also be arraigned in a Jefferson County courtroom next week, on July 20.

Coors took over as president of the family company in 1987 and in 2000 was named chief executive of the brewer with 8,500 employees and $4 billion in sales in 2003. Adolph Coors merged with Molson to form the Molson Coors Brewing Co. in 2005.

Coors, a tall, silver-haired figure familiar to many as the face of Coors television ads, was a political novice in 2004 when he decided to seek the Senate seat being given up by Republican Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell. He won the GOP primary, but was defeated in the 2004 general election by Democrat Ken Salazar.