alcoholic beverage founded 1896 in tumwater wa founder leopold friederich schmidt headquarters los angeles california products beer owner pabst brewing company website http www.olympia beer.com the olympia brewing company was a brewery in tumwater wa founded in 1896 by leopold friederich schmidt which existed from 1896 until 1983 . it was acquired in the latter year by pabst brewing company . pabst is headquartered in los angeles california . 1 2 on november 13 2014 pabst announced that it had completed its sale to blue ribbon intermediate holdings llc . blue ribbon is a partnership between american beer entrepreneur eugene kashper and tsg consumer partners a san francisco based private equity firm . 3 prior reports suggested the price agreed upon was around 700 million . 4 contents 1 history 2 use of artesian water 3 pop culture 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit the olympia brewery building in 1989 leopold schmidt a german immigrant from montana founded the capital brewing company at tumwater falls on the deschutes river in the town of tumwater near the south end of puget sound . he built a four story wooden brewhouse a five story cellar building a one story ice factory powered by the lower falls and a bottling and keg plant and in 1896 began brewing and selling olympia beer . in 1902 the firm became olympia brewing company and chose the slogan it s the water to promote its flagship product . statewide prohibition which began in january 1916 four years before national prohibition ended beer making operations . after prohibition ended a new olympia brewery was erected just upstream from the original and olympia beer went back on sale in 1934 . 5 the original brewery that produced olympia beer as seen in 2012 . tumwater wa . olympia beer was a very popular regional brand in the pacific northwest for half of a century . it eventually expanded nationwide repositioned as a low price lager . during the 1970s olympia acquired hamm s and lone star . olympia brewing also produced buckhorn beer 6 which had previously been a product of the lone star brewing company . 7 between 1970 and 1980 olympia faced flat revenues 8 among consolidating nationwide breweries and in 1982 the schmidt family which owned and operated the brewery and company elected to sell the company . olympia was subsequently purchased by g. heileman brewing company in 1983 . g. heileman brewing company was sold to stroh brewery company in 1996 . in 1999 pabst brewing company bought most of the stroh brewery company brands including olympia beer . citation needed as with many other regional breweries ownership of the olympia brewery eventually passed through several corporations including pabst g. heileman and stroh s until the brewery was eventually purchased by miller brewing co. 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 even the brewery of its arch rival rainier beer in seattle . in 2002 sab bought out miller brewing co. sabmiller closed the olympia brewery on june 27th 2003 citing the unprofitability of such a small brewery . citation needed pabst was purchased along with the olympia label by beer industry veteran eugene kashper with backing from tsg consumer partners in 2014 and olympia beer continues to be contract brewed by millercoors at their brewery in irwindale california . 9 use of artesian water edit for many years olympia beer was brewed with water obtained from artesian wells . the company s promotions made much of the use of artesian water in the brewing process . however the advertisements never explained what artesian water was preferring to claim that the water was controlled by a mythical population of artesians . 10 once the brewery was taken over by a larger company the use of artesian water was discontinued and so was that advertising campaign . 11 in downtown olympia current efforts to preserve the use of artesian water at one of the remaining public wells has been the mission of h2olympia artesian well advocates . 12 pop culture edit this section needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message daredevil evel knievel was sponsored by olympia beer . olympia paid a hefty price tag to have evel sew patches onto his jackets signs on his vehicles even stitching olympia beer onto parachutes attached to his dragster . this was an attempt to take olympia nationwide . olympia beer label from 1914 . dustin hoffman s benjamin braddock drinks an olympia beer in the graduate 1967 . paul newman drinks olympia in the movie sometimes a great notion 1970 . nearly the entire cast including marvin gaye drinks olympia bottles stubbies cans and tall boys in chrome and hot leather 1971 . a neon sign advertising olympia beer can be seen in the window of the liquor store in american graffiti 1973 . clint eastwood promoted the brand in several popular films including magnum force 1973 thunderbolt and lightfoot 1974 the eiger sanction 1975 every which way but loose 1978 in which his orangutan clyde also indulges and any which way you can 1980 . the werewolves of the colony in the howling in 1980 . farmer vincent and his family in motel hell 80 . rebecca balding is seen drinking olympia in bed in silent scream 1980 . the blues brothers band drinks 300 worth of olympia in bob s country bunker tavern in the blues brothers 1980 john denver drinks an olympia in oh god 1977 . signage and cans being consumed are also easily visible in the china syndrome 1979 . the brand was also featured in the movie friday the 13th part iii 1982 and airport 1975 1974 . a neon light olympia beer sign can be seen in the roadhouse bar in the vampire cult classic near dark 1987 and in the matt damon film promised land 2012 . in the independent b movie clawed the legend of sasquatch 2005 the teen age campers and the adult hunters were drinking the brand . josh brolin s george w. bush drinks a barely recognizable bottle of olympia beer in w. 2008 . bill hader s character drinks several cans of olympia beer in the to do list 2013 . many of the characters in the hollywood knights drink olympia beer in stubby bottles . it can also be seen in the 1983 american horror thriller film based on the stephen king novel of the same name cujo . b. ag energy resources inc. of benton illinois purchased the machinery from olympia brewing co. to make ethanol for motor fuel use . 13 the second word in american rock band creedence clearwater revival s name is derived from an olympia advertising campaign . 14 the movie house of games includes a set with cases of olympia beer stacked toward the back of the room . in a mickey rooney movie from the andy hardy series the title character has to change a tire on his dad s car . on the street in front of their house mickey and his dad remove a case of olympia beer from the trunk to get at the spare tire jack . citation needed olympia beer was praised as one of the top 25 beers in the world in a 2012 mensjournal.com review article . 15 see also edit history of olympia washington references edit li shan . pabst headquarters moving to los angeles . los angeles times . may 14 2011 . contact from the company s website deschenes denise . pabst brewing company completes sale to blue ribbon holdings . tsg consumer partners . tsg consumer partners . retrieved 5 june 2015 . wilmore james . pabst brewing co sale finalised as eugene kashper tsg take reins . just drinks . just drinks . retrieved 5 june 2015 . brewery gems an illustrated history of the olympia brewing company retrieved on october 25 2009 . beer advocate . what happened to buckhorn beer retrieved on november 2 2006 the buckhorn museum . fact sheet retrieved on november 30 2008 . tri city herald schmidts may lose olympia beer helm 2 21 1980 http www.tsgconsumer.com news article index.php id 60 kelley advertising & marketing olympia beer a good campaign accelerates the death of a brand . accessed 2008.11.07 . beer advocate olympia beer . accessed 2008.11.07 . it s still the water thurston county pud report connections summer 2009 vol . 3 no. 3 http www.wpuda.org pdf files connections summer2009final.pdf benton ethanol plant clears hurdles . the southern . retrieved 2007 11 28 . bordowitz hank 2007 . bad moon rising the unauthorized history of creedence clearwater revival . chicago illinois chicago review press incorporated . p. 390 . isbn 978 155652661 9 . http www.mensjournal.com expert advice the 25 best beers in the world 20120712 external links edit olympia beer official web site retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title olympia brewing company & oldid 743166650 categories companies 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