[polarbear]

As stated in another thread,

[salish]

My mom & dad would drink Oly if they couldn't find their favorite beer at the grocery store; Miller Hi Life-the "Champagne of Bottled Beers". My buddies and I were real juicers in high school (and out of high school) and we called Olympia "pisswater", but they did produce Mickey's Big Mouth, which had some bite and could get you buzzed PDQ. I have a soft spot in my heart for the Olympia brewery because after my dad's family moved here from Missouri in the middle 1930's, my grandfather worked for a time at that old brewery, and as a child my dad and his little brother would play in the woods around the brewery. Sometimes they would sneak into Ft. Lewis and see how far they could get before sentries challenged them. My dad is long gone but I look at the old brewery every time I drive past and think of him. I hope they don't tear it down.

[Rich Baldwin]

I have a sister who was born when I was in college. When she was 2 or 3, she picked up on the TV jingles and would frequently belt out "No beer on the bar is better than Oly."

[polarbear]

Rich's story reminds me of this. Evidently when my mom was 2 or 3, there used to be a kind of beer you could get in Montana called Grainbelt that came in a large jug with a cork. Whenever her dad had a glass, he would give here a little sip. One day the family was on a picnic and she was sound asleep. Someone popped the cork and she opened her eyes and yelled "Grainbelt!"

[salish]

That's funny. Truly, out of the mouths of babes.

[Grainbelt]

You can still get Grainbelt in Minnesota, but it comes in regular bottles. I used to drink it when I visited my mom there. It's pretty good for a regional mass market brew . . . a heck of a lot better than Oly. Speaking of regional mass market brew, Harvey Manning and Ira Spring traded me and a couple teenage buddies one of their Rainier Ales (Green Death) for one of our Schmidt pounders (Animal Beer) on top of Tiger Mountain around 1980. They were sauteing onions and mushrooms on a Svea . . .

[MCaver]

I'm not much of a beer drinker, but there is a regional beer in Texas that's pretty good called Shiner Bock. It's similar in taste and color to Anchor Steam from San Francisco, but I liked Shiner better.

[Timber Cruiser]

I toured the Pyramid brewery down in Hood River last Friday. They of course are a much smaller operation than Miller or Oly was (50 employees vs. 400), but I wonder if someone their size could come in and occupy at least part of the site without bumping into the water quality issues that finally drove the macro producers away. I could never understand my friends preference for Oly when I was in college. If you watch some of Clint Eastwood's older movies, you'll see it featured as his favorite. Thank god they brewed Hamms as well or the hospitality room would not have been worth the time it took for the tour of the brewery!

[Newt]

It always amazed me how Oly stayed in business for as long as they did. I knew of very few that drank it. When I was in CA years ago some friends thought it was great. I wanted Coors instead. Must have had a market elsewere as I don't think it sold well in WA. And yes, it was pee water. NN

[McPilchuck]

Drank lots of Oly's in the late 1960s and early 70s <grin>. McPil