Just what you always wanted Rainier to be. Maybe, as Rainier field marketer Kurt Stream asserts in the promotional video below, "this IS the beer your great-grandfather drank." Maybe the old man didn't care to interrogate his booze. Vitamin R by Burke-Gilman Brewing Company is a Lager - American Light which has a rating of 4.1 out of 5. Maybe that's how they liked beer back in the Great Depression. Nothing much to quibble with, little to overthink. And yet, a leg up in quality from its predecessor, with a relatively round malt character, copper color, and legitimate hop bite. Still present are certain subtle flavor notes of mass production: poorish head retention, a faintly metallic aftertaste. (Though Rainier reps are quick to point out that the six-pack is composed of 16-ounce "pounder" bottles, meaning you get the equivalent of eight standard bottles for that close-to-craft brew price.)Ĭlose-to-craft-but not quite-is also how we'd describe the beer itself. Meanwhile, some Washingtonians are unsure how to feel about the brewery "homecoming." (Case in point, this from our sister publication Seattle Met.) Further complicating the reunion is price point: a six-pack of Pale Mountain Ale will retail for about $12. ![]() Reps hint that if it does well, more Rainier experiments could be in the hopper. Pale Mountain Ale hits Oregon shelves next week, and Pabst plans to also distribute in Montana, Idaho, and Northern California. And unlike your Rainier tallboy, this beer is produced not in Irwindale, California, but back in Washington, at Woodinville's Redhook facility. Meet Pale Mountain Ale: a "post-Prohibition" style with Yakima Valley Fuggle and Cascade hops, representing Rainier's first new beer in 20 years. (And do we detect, on the back end, just the faintest hint of real American rust?)Īlas, the beloved brew hasn’t been made here since 2003-taking some of the fizz out of the regal R's Cascadian cachet. ![]() It is referred to as Vitamin R, and appears prominently in a. We sipped, furrowed our brows, held the caramel-hued brew to the light, then drained our glasses. This is what your great-grandpa's go-to might have tasted like-gently hopped, generally malty, and medium-bodied. The 2008 movie Twilight, set in Forks, Washington, makes frequent reference to Rainier beer. We rather diffidently cracked open a few of these brand-new 16-oz pounders (nostalgia size!) from Washington's homegrown macrobrewer. And then, of course, there’s the motorcycle. The self-made “Rainier Man.” The MFRs-“Mountain Fresh Rainiers”- hoofing it through some of ‘70s television’s weirdest commercials. ![]() There’s Mickey Rooney as a Mountie, pouring the stuff into his wife’s cleavage. (Until both were slurped up by even Bigger Beer.) For nearly 140 years-dating back to before Washington was even a state-this mildly cornbread-y macro has permeated Pacific Northwest culture.
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