Mountain Fresh TV

There's lots I could write about Rainier Beer: how the cheap local swill was brewed in Seattle from 1878 to 1999, how one-time owner Emil Sick also owned the beloved Seattle Rainiers, how the green-bottled Rainier Ale was affectionately referred to as "Green Death" (and the 16-ounce bottles were referred to as "pounders"), how the brand hasn't been locally owned since 1977 and hasn't been brewed in Washington since 2003 (no longer using "mountain fresh" glacial water from its namesake), or how the brand doesn't seem to even have a functioning web site...

But today I wanna write about Rainier's cool commercials that ran on local TV in the '70s and '80s. The ads amused kids of my generation long before we were of legal drinking age, and likely branded many of us as future Rainier drinkers. The above spot is my favorite, spoofing the then-popular video games early '80s (though I wish it included my personal fave, Centipede).

I also love this one, with the giant beer cans in the demolition derby ("Oh, taste that one!")... Local rival Olympia Beer gets dissed in both that ad and the one below. The handsome, rubber-faced guy reminds me of my pal Jay -- as a kid I found him hysterical, pretty much like I find Jay now...

The Wild Rainier mascot also appeared in several memorable commercials (and in this poster, helping some Conan-like dude fight Bigfoot). However, Rainier's best-remembered ad (albeit far from best overall) is the one in which a speeding motorcycle delivers the brand name via Doppler effect...

So, like, please drink responsibly.
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