Original Rainier Brewery

The story

Seattle Brewing & Malting Company formed in 1893 through a merger that included the Claussen & Sweeney brewery at Georgetown. By 1904 the company was the largest brewery west of the Mississippi River, employing 300 people, and by 1912 it was the sixth-largest in the world. The Georgetown brewery was the largest industrial establishment in Washington State, and it was added to Seattle's city landmark register after a 1989 application.

Washington introduced prohibition in 1916, and the Georgetown site became the Rainier Cold Storage & Ice complex. After brewing returned to Seattle in 1935, a giant rotating red neon R topped the Bay View plant roof and became a local landmark.

Stroh announced on February 8, 1999, that the Rainier brand and brewery were for sale, and the brewery closed that June. The brand and recipe went to Pabst and production moved to the Olympia Brewery. Tully's Coffee leased the site in 2000 and replaced the R with a green T; the original R is now in the Museum of History & Industry collection.

What's There Now

As of 2008 the complex held artist studio dwellings, a recording studio, band rehearsal spaces and Tully's offices, and Sabey Corporation began converting it to residential, retail and office space.

Everything that was here

• 1878–1999

  Original Rainier BreweryBrewery

  By 1904 the Georgetown brewery behind Rainier beer was the largest west of the Mississippi River, and by 1912 it ranked sixth-largest in the world.

  See the map in 1879 →

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