Rainier Brewing Company
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Rainier Brewing Company (1884 - 1999) was a Seattle, Washington company that brewed Rainier Beer, a very popular brand in the Pacific Northwest. While the beer enjoys near iconic status, it is no longer brewed in Seattle, nor is the company owned locally. In the late 1990s, the company was sold to Stroh's, then to Pabst, though Miller contract brews most of Pabst's beers. The brewery was closed by Pabst in 1999 and sold.
Although beer is no longer brewed there, the brewery itself is still a fixture in the south end of town, adjacent to I-5 just north of the West Seattle Freeway. The plant is now used by Tully's Coffee to roast coffee beans. The trademark red neon R that sat atop the factory has been replaced with a green T for the new occupant, Tully's Coffee Corp. The neon R is now in the collection of Seattle's Museum of History and Industry. When Seattle TV and radio stations provide traffic reports for I-5, the stretch of interstate there is known as "The Roaster," as in "traffic is heavy at The Roaster."
[edit] History
Rainier beer and the brewery date back to 1884 when Edward Sweeney established the Claussen-Sweeney Brewing Company in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle. In 1893 Sweeney's company merged with two other breweries; the new company became known as the Seattle Brewing and Malting Company. Originally, all three of the breweries were operated by this company, but it was the Claussen-Sweeney brewery which would remain in operation until 1999 and become a Seattle landmark.
Alcoholic beverages were outlawed in Washington state in 1916 and the Rainier brand was sold to a San Francisco, California company. Three years later, alcoholic beverages were outlawed nationwide. Following the repeal of Prohibition, the brewery was purchased by Fritz and Emil Sick, who then repurchased the Rainier brand and began brewing Rainier beer in 1935. The brewery went through several names such as Sick's Seattle Brewing and Malting and Sicks Rainier Brewing Company during the 1935-1977 period.
Sick's also brewed Rainier at a branch brewery in Spokane. The Spokane brewery closed in 1962.
From 1952 to 1964, Rainier came packaged in a series of decorative beer cans known as the Rainier Jubilee Series. The first cans in the Jubilee series were a set of Christmas cans marketed in late 1952 and again in late 1953; these cans are rare and highly collectible today. The Christmas cans proved such a success that Rainier's use of decorative Jubilee Series cans continued for over a decade, with literally thousands of different designs. Most of these are not as rare and collectible as the Christmas cans, but the "reindeer" cans (which were sold only in Alaska), and the first pull tab Jubilee cans (made only in the last couple of years of the Jubilee Series) are also considered rare.
Other brands of beer brewed by Sick's Rainier Brewing during this time included Rheinlander and Sick's Select. Later, the Rainier brewery would also take over brewing Heidelberg beer after the Heidelberg brewery in Tacoma, Washington closed. Each of these brands (as well as rival Northwest brands Lucky Lager, Olympia, and Blitz-Weinhard) were once staples in the Pacific Northwest beer market, but starting in the 1960s and 1970s began losing market share to the major national brands.
In 1977 the brewery was sold to G. Heileman Brewing Company, and passed through several more hands before finally winding up owned by Pabst, then closing in 1999. The Rainier brand was sold to General Brewing Company, which moved production to the Olympia brewery in nearby Tumwater, Washington. The Olympia Brewing Company closed in 2003. Rainier beer is still made but is no longer brewed in Washington state.
Its iconic status locally caused it to be referred to as "Vitamin R."
In 1987, Rainier beer was awarded a silver medal by the Great American Beer Festival in the category of Best American Light Lager. The GABF recognized Rainier again in 1990, 1998 and 2000 with the gold medal for Best American-Style Lager as well as silver medals in the same category in 2003 and 2005. Both Rainier Light and Rainier Ice have received medals, in their respective categories, from the GABF.
[edit] Minor league baseball
The beer lent its name to two different minor league baseball teams, both in the Pacific Coast League. The Seattle Rainiers played in Sick's Stadium, which was owned by the same family that owned the brewery. The Tacoma Rainiers, a farm team for the Seattle Mariners still play in Tacoma's Cheney Stadium, where Rainier remains the beverage of choice.
