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‘For Good Cheer,’ head to the Garland Theater to watch a film on good ol’ Rainier Beer

The old Spokane Breweries plant on the corner of Lincoln Street and Broadway Avenue that was pressed back into service (it had been making vinegar) after the Prohibition era ended in 1933. Harry Goetz, son of pioneer saloonkeeper and hotel operator “Dutch Jake” Goetz, then incorporated his own brewery. The Goetz Beer name died out around 1940, and the production facility made Rainier beer for many years until the plant was torn down around 1962. (Charles Libby/Washington State Archives )
The old Spokane Breweries plant on the corner of Lincoln Street and Broadway Avenue that was pressed back into service (it had been making vinegar) after the Prohibition era ended in 1933. Harry Goetz, son of pioneer saloonkeeper and hotel operator “Dutch Jake” Goetz, then incorporated his own brewery. The Goetz Beer name died out around 1940, and the production facility made Rainier beer for many years until the plant was torn down around 1962. (Charles Libby/Washington State Archives )
By Rachel Baker For The Spokesman-Review

Giant beer cans floating a river. Giant beer bottles with legs. Giant beer bottles at the dawn of humanity. These are just a few sights from the documentary, “Rainier: A Beer Odyssey,” which showcases the legendary commercials of Seattle’s beloved Rainier Brewery that ran from 1974 to 1987.

The documentary comes to the Garland Theater on Friday, with a showing at 7:30 p.m. The filmmakers will be in attendance and the theater will give out door prizes and offer Rainier specials.

Naturally the film has found traction with showings throughout our beer-loving state, and this will be its first showing at the Garland Theater.

“Rainier is our highest selling beer at the theater,” said Jasmine Barnes, co-owner and general manager, who was told about the documentary by her fiancé’s father.

The documentary was released in 2024 and has gone on to be shown at the Tacoma Film Festival and Anderson Island Film Festival. Last week, it had several showings at the Seattle International Film Festival Cinema Uptown.

It is directed by Tacoma-based filmmaker Isaac Olsen, who collaborated with brothers Justin and Robby Peterson to bring the film to life after the discovery of Rainier advertising footage in the Washington State Historical Society’s archives, including the legendary commercials that helped it become Washington’s top selling beer in the late seventies.

During the mid-1970s, Seattle was far from the tech-boom-metropolis we know it as today. This was during what was known as the “Boeing Bust” when, according to the Seattle Times, the aircraft company went from a peak of over 100,000 employees in the mid-sixties to a low of around 32,400 employees in 1971.

This era was marked by the infamous billboard asking, “Will the last person leaving SEATTLE – Turn out the lights.” In the face of economic downturn, one boutique advertising agency took it upon themselves to imbue a little bit of absurd, goodhearted humor into Rainier Beer advertising, and with that effort, energized a renewed sense of regional spirit.

But Rainier Beer’s history extends much further back – ever further than Washington’s history as an official state. The brewery was founded in 1878, and it quickly became so popular that people began to spread the idea that Mount Rainier had been named after the beer. After Washington enacted statewide prohibition in 1916, the company survived by moving production first to California and later to Canada. Rainier Beer relaunched in 1933 following the nationwide repeal of prohibition in 1933, and in 1954 the company raised the iconic neon red “R” sign, cementing Rainier Beer’s status as a Seattle staple.

Although the beer is no longer brewed in Seattle, its legacy lives on, and its television advertising has no doubt been a part of that legacy’s survival and diehard fanbase. Facing competition from large national competitors during the 1970s, the brewery hired Terry Heckler to bring fresh life to the company’s advertising.

Heckler found himself at a pivotal point of Seattle history, having created the Rainier advertisements that captured the spirit of what some may call “old Seattle” as well as designed the unmistakable Starbucks siren logo, an image representative of the corporate transformation seen in the city since the 1980s.

To learn more about the documentary, visit rainierbeermovie.com, and to see previews and “mini-docs” from the film, visit the film’s YouTube channel @rainierabeerodyssey337.