Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Days of the Beer, September 23

The beer for today is sadly no longer available, Rainier Beer.

On September 23, 1920, Joseph Yule Jr, was born. After changing his name to Mickey McGuire, he later changed it to one that stuck with him. His mother suggested he change it to Mickey Looney, but he went for something close, Mickey Rooney.

Mickey has been married 8 times, won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor- Miniseries or a Movie for 1982's Bill, won 2 golden globes, won Academy Juvenile Award in 1939 and a Honorary in 1983 for Lifetime Achievement. He's been in more than 200 films, had 5 Oscar nominations, and 5 Emmy Nominations.

In 1970's, he made a series of commercials for Rainier Beer.

Rainier was a brewery in Seattle, Washington, from 1884 to 1999. The brewery started as the Claussen-Sweeney Brewing Company, and then became the Seattle Brewing and Malting Company. The brewery shut down in 1916 when Washington state outlawed alcohol, and was sold to a San Francisco company. After prohibition, the brewery was purchased by Fritz and Emil Sick, who began brewing Rainier in 1935. In 1977, Rainier was sold to G. Heileman Brewing Company, and then made it's way to Pabst, who closed it in 1999. The brand Rainier was sold to General Brewing Company, who is out of San Francisco, and apparently, Rainier is still being made (according to wiki). Although I can't find any information more on it.

So, if it still exists, and if you can find it (no not the A-team) for the guy who made 200 movies and about 10 Rainier commercials, have yourself a Rainier beer, it'll probably taste bad.

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