Rainier Brewing Company (1884 1999) was a Seattle, Washington, company that brewed Rainier Beer, a popular brand in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Although Rainier was founded in 1884, the Seattle site had been brewing beer since 1878. 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 Spokane Street Viaduct. The plant is now used by Tully's Coffee to roast beans. The trademark red neon "R" that sat atop the building has been replaced with a green "T" for the new occupant. 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 freeway there is known as "The Brewery," as in "traffic is heavy at the Brewery." (Some have taken to calling it "The Roaster," but that name hasn't stuck.)^{[citation needed]}

The Olympia Brewing Company began brewing Olympia Beer at the Olympia Brewery in 1896 at the Tumwater Falls of the Deschutes River and continued until Prohibition. It was founded by Leopold Schmidt, a German immigrant living in Montana. After Prohibition ended, a new brewery was erected just upstream from the original.

Olympia Beer was a very popular regional Pacific Northwest brand which eventually expanded nationwide, positioned as a low-price beer. During the 1970s, Olympia acquired Hamm's and Lone Star. Olympia Brewing also produced Buckhorn Beer,^[1] which had previously been a product of the Lone Star Brewing Company.^[2] The Schmidt Family, which owned and operated the Brewery and company, elected to sell to Heilemann's Old Style Beer Company in 1982. Heilemann's was subsequently purchased by Pabst in 1983.

As with many other regional breweries, ownership of this brewery eventually passed through several corporations including Pabst, G. Heileman, and Stroh's, until the brewery was eventually purchased by SABMiller. For a time, the Olympia brewery took over the brewing of other Pacific Northwest brands as their original breweries were closed one by one, including the Lucky Lager brewery in Vancouver, Washington, the Henry Weinhard's brewery in Portland, Oregon, and the Rainier Beer brewery in Seattle, Washington. Miller closed the Olympia brewery on July 1, 2003 citing the unprofitability of such a small brewery.

Cy Valley wrote:

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I don't ever remember seeing Rainier in the Great Southwest, where I was hauling the Oly home from. In fact, up until now, that's one brand I'd never heard of.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb4Lc-Xqsq0