RAINER: A BEER ODYSEEY: A Film Review
by Karen Pecota

Isaac Olsen | United States | 2024

Filmmaker and documentarian Isaac Olsen handcrafts films primarily with archival-heavy stories, which prepared him for his latest directorial narrative RAINER: A BEER ODYSEEY. Though an expert in unraveling hours of detailed archival material, Olsen needed help to accomplish the overwhelming task of documenting a revered part of Seattle’s history.

Tacoma natives Justin and Robby Peterson who own three famous local bars, also have a knack for presenting Northwest stories to film, but inside their known bar named 1111, is a Rainer Beer mini museum filled with posters, memorabilia, and nostalgic artifacts. The brothers were the perfect duo to collaborate as writers with Olsen and a screenplay was born, adding to their titles as producers of Olsen’s film.

Olsen goes a step further to incorporate interviews with the former writers, designers, directors, producers, cinematographers and editors of the brewery’s ad campaigns to tell the development of Rainer Beer’s story. Heartwarming are the recollections shared by each one interviewed of their groundbreaking work, while Olsen interjects in the film visually several of the ads they talk about. My favorite was always the motorcycle ad facing the pristine Rainer Mountain, but with the knowledge of the painstaking attempts to make the ad happen it’s even more endearing.

The filmmakers note, “The entire Rainer Beer motion picture film collection, donated to the Washington State Historical Society (WSHS) in 1999, was safe in the care of Special Collections supervisor Ed Nolan. Only a few former Rainer employees who orchestrated the transaction and saved the film from being junked when the brewery was vacated knew about the whereabouts.” The filmmakers were able to partner with WSHS in order to preserve and restore the originals with the help of specialized professionals to fine tune the restoration process for public enjoyment.

The humble beginnings of the Rainer Beer brand and its advertising campaign are a story worth remembering because it is one-of-a-kind. The filmmakers explain: In the shadow of Mount Rainer, in downtown Seattle, Rainer Beer was first brewed in 1878, before Washington was even a state. The beer was one of the most successful regional beer brands in the nation.

In the 70s the beer had a brand imaging crisis and decided a change was necessary. They hired Terry Heckler and Gordon Bowker at Heckler Bowker, a small, ragtag upstart ad agency, commissioned to craft a campaign for television. Rainer quickly became the best-selling beer in the state, surpassing even national giants like Miller and Budweiser. If one witnessed the ads over their twelve-year run, one never forgot them.

The filmmakers, their cast and crew, want us to know, “The campaign which Terry and Gordon conceived of fifty years ago this summer, not only redefined and revitalized Rainer Beer, but left an indelible mark on the national advertising landscape and has come to define the very sensibility of The Northwest itself, now more than ever.”