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Originally posted by baltassoc
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Olympia ("It's the Water!"). Usually it was a quarter less a 12 pack than the next cheapest, the Beast. Of course, I haven't seen any for ages, so it may be regional and/or dead. Too bad. It actually was halfway decent if it was really, really cold.
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Yes, Olympia wasn't bad as long as it was really cold. If you took the tour (and at Rainier) they usually let you drink beer as long as you wanted. Plus they were liberal about carding.
But sigh - it is a think of the past. It gained some recognition in the mid to late 90's with some excellent product placement in a movie I can't currently remember. Here is your history...
The original Tumwater brewery was started in 1896 by Leopold Schmidt who, attracted by the artesian wells in the area, sold his brewery in Butte, Mont., and started a company (initially named Capital Brewing Co.) that would eventually have five breweries. After the end of Prohibition, Olympia Brewing Company built a new brewery nearby. Olympia brewing added a new brewhouse in 1960, bought Hamm's brewery in 1975, and merged with Lone Star in 1976.
Pabst bought Olympia in 1983. The Tumwater brewery seemed to get a new lease on life in 1999 with the demise of Stroh Brewing Co. and its Rainier brewery in Seattle. Stroh sold Rainier and other brands to Pabst Brewing Co. Pabst then sold the Tumwater brewery to Miller. Miller is closing the 106 year old Tumwater brewery in 2003. With the closing of Rainier in Seattle, Blitz-Weinhard in Portland and now Miller in Tumwater, the Pacific Northwest has lost all its old regional breweries. That leaves the Redhook Ale Brewery, a microbrewery started in the early 1980's, the largest in the state of Washington.
Olympia Beer is now brewed by Pabst Brewing Company in San Antonio Texas.
