How Rainier Beer went from an old fashioned brew to an advertising icon

Behold the Rain-beers, a herd of giant bottles with human legs galloping majestically across the Cascade foothills.  This motif was part advertisement, part cinema — the brainchildren of Heckler Associates, a local ad agency that made Rainier Beer’s personality and brand into the stuff of Seattle legend.  Today Rainier is no longer an entirely local product — it’s owned by Pabst and brewed in California — but go to any antique shop and you’re destined to find beer memorabilia sporting that red calligraphy “R” hearkening from the golden age of Rainier Beer.  It was this mythologizing that drove director Isaac Olsen to make a full documentary film about the commercials and the small firm that put them on the national stage.  Rainier: A Beery Odyssey is showing at SIFF Film Center this week through Thursday, March 13, and other Washington locations through April.  Soundside host Libby Denkmann caught up with Olsen to hear more about his odyssey of making the film.  Guests: Isaac Olsen, director of Rainier: A Beer Odyssey.  Related Links: Find showtimes and locations for the film here: https://www.rainierbeermovie.com/   Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.