“It’s The Water” Olympia Brewing Company, Tumwater, Washington.

The Olympia Brewing Company was a historic Pacific Northwest brewery based in Tumwater, Washington, best known for Olympia Beer and the slogan “It’s the Water.”
I have often thought this South Sound landmark could have been maintained and used as office space, maybe for another industrial company. I had hoped they would keep the signage as-is.

Founding and early years
German immigrant Leopold Friedrich Schmidt, a trained brewmaster who had previously run a brewery in Montana, founded the operation in 1896 as the Capital Brewing Company. He chose a site at Tumwater Falls on the Deschutes River after testing the local artesian water and concluding he could brew better beer with it. The first beer, Olympia Pale Export, went on sale that year.

In 1902 the company was renamed Olympia Brewing Company. Company secretary Frank Kenney is credited with the slogan “It’s the Water,” which highlighted the artesian source. The brewery grew into Tumwater’s principal industry, employing more than 100 people by 1909 and shipping beer widely in the region, including to Alaska during the gold rush.

Washington’s statewide Prohibition began in January 1916 (four years before national Prohibition–of course). Leopold Schmidt had died in 1914; the family wound down brewing, depleted inventory, and later used the facilities for other products such as apple juice until operations largely ended.

Post-Prohibition peak
After repeal, the Schmidt family built a new, modern brewery uphill from the original site rather than fully restoring the old plant. Olympia Beer returned to the market in January 1934. The company introduced the short-necked 11-ounce “stubby” bottle in the mid-1930s, later added cans, and became a long-running regional success and major local employer under continued Schmidt family leadership (notably “Uncle Peter” Schmidt).

In the 1970s, facing national consolidation, Olympia acquired other brands including Hamm’s and Lone Star in an effort to grow. Family control ended in the early 1980s.

Ownership changes and closure
The company was sold in 1983 (accounts describe the transaction involving Pabst interests under Paul Kalmanovitz, with related brand and brewery deals that also involved G. Heileman). Subsequent industry consolidations moved brands through Stroh and then largely to Pabst; the Tumwater brewery itself passed to Miller Brewing Company around 1999.

SABMiller closed the Tumwater plant in mid-2003, citing excess capacity and the higher cost of running a relatively small brewery. Nearly 400 jobs were lost. The roughly 100-acre campus on Custer Way has remained vacant and deteriorated since then. A 2018 fire, environmental issues (including a transformer oil spill that led to a settlement with the state), trespassing, and hundreds of police calls have marked the site. In September 2026 the City of Tumwater sued the current owner, Tumwater Development LLC (which acquired the property in 2016), over nuisance conditions and unpaid civil penalties; redevelopment plans have not materialized, and the city has conducted EPA-funded soil testing as a brownfield site.

The brand today
Pabst Brewing Company has owned the Olympia Beer brand for years. After the Tumwater closure, the beer was contract-brewed elsewhere (notably in California). In January 2021 Pabst paused U.S. production, citing declining demand after unsuccessful efforts to return brewing to the Tumwater area; the company framed the halt as temporary. An Olympia Artesian Vodka line, produced by a separate Tumwater distilling operation that licensed the name, has continued. As of recent accounts, Olympia Beer is still produced for the Canadian market by Great Western Brewing in Saskatchewan under licensing rights, and limited “revival” versions have appeared elsewhere (such as a Texas collaboration). The classic U.S. product is no longer in regular production.

The original Tumwater operation remains a point of local pride and nostalgia—tied to the falls, the water, the stubby bottle, and decades as a community employer—even as the physical plant sits idle.

RECENT LAWSUIT IN THE NEWS

In September 2026, the City of Tumwater sued the owner of the former Olympia Brewery property over long-running nuisance conditions.

The suit was filed September 18, 2026, in Thurston County Superior Court against Tumwater Development LLC, which bought the Custer Way and related valley properties in 2016. The brewery itself had stopped production in June 2003 and sat vacant under successive owners. The city says serious deterioration and code problems began around 2018 and that voluntary correction agreements and earlier fines failed to produce lasting fixes.

The complaint describes the site—once a major local employer overlooking Capitol Boulevard and Tumwater Valley—as blight and a “sprawling den of crime.” Allegations include:

More than 300 police 911 calls since 2018 for burglaries, assaults, vandalism, thefts, sexual assaults, and trespassing.
An October 2018 fire started by trespassers, which the city ties to failure to secure the buildings.
Unsecured, dilapidated structures with graffiti, broken windows, loose fencing, garbage, overgrown vegetation, holes in floors, unstable ceilings and flooring, open voids, exposed wiring, broken glass, and asbestos concerns. Police and fire crews reportedly cannot safely enter many areas.
A 2019 transformer oil leak (containing low levels of PCBs, after vandals damaged the equipment) that reached the Deschutes River and Capitol Lake. Tumwater Development later reached a $2.3 million settlement with the Washington State Department of Ecology over that spill.
The city is seeking at least $550,000 in unpaid civil penalties, or alternatively a court order requiring the owner to abate the nuisances at the owner’s expense. City spokesman Jason Wettstein said the preference is still cooperative enforcement, but not continued delays or lack of visible progress. Mayor Leatta Dahlhoff has described the properties as having grown unkempt, unsafe, and unproductive over many years.

Chandulal Patel, speaking for Tumwater Development, has said the long-term plan was a boutique hotel, condos, and warehouse development. He described the fire, the oil spill settlement, and ongoing costs (reportedly $40,000–$45,000 a month for security, insurance, taxes, and utilities) as major obstacles, and said the company has “done the best we can within our own power.” He expressed disappointment at the lawsuit and said he would rather work with the city on a plan than face court action. He has also indicated the property could be sold for the right price. Separately, the city received EPA grant funding and conducted soil sampling in 2026 to assess contamination ahead of any future redevelopment; results were still pending in early reporting. A related state bill aimed at helping redevelop distressed sites such as this one did not pass the Legislature.

Thanks to BT for the pictures!