Olympia Pale Export Type Beer 12 Oz Tab Top Can

Olympia Pale Export Tab Top Can

This all-aluminum tab top can represents a classic packaging era for Olympia Brewing Company, showcasing a seamless body with a rounded bottom profile. Distinguished by its bottom line reading "NET CONTENTS 12 FLUID OUNCES" rather than abbreviated fluid phrasing, the container was produced exclusively under the single-brewery Olympia, Washington mandatory statement. A hallmark of the label is the central golden horseshoe inscribed with "GOOD LUCK," framing an illustration of the Tumwater Falls and railroad bridge on the Deschutes River. Below this centerpiece sits the famous trademark slogan "It's the Water" in red script, accompanied by the longstanding company claim extolling the purity and solvent properties of the local artesian wells.

Olympia Pale Export served as the brewery's flagship brew from the nineteenth century onward. The brand attained widespread popularity across the western United States through consistent marketing built around its pristine regional water source. The catchphrase "It's the Water" was coined in 1902 and grew into one of the most durable slogans in American brewing history, supported by whimsical folklore referencing mythical "artesians" responsible for the brew. In the post-war decades, Olympia established itself as a premier regional staple, becoming one of the most widely consumed beers on the West Coast.

The company was founded in 1896 by German brewmaster Leopold F. Schmidt as the Capital Brewing Company, adopting the Olympia Brewing Company name in 1902. Operating beside Tumwater Falls, the plant utilized natural artesian springs and harnessed the falls for water power. The brewery survived Washington's early adoption of prohibition in 1916 by producing fruit juices and near beer, successfully reopening immediately upon national repeal in 1933. Olympia expanded dynamically into the 1970s by acquiring other regional labels, but increasing consolidation by nationwide brewing giants led to subsequent ownership shifts and the eventual closure of the historic Tumwater facility in 2003.

To breweriana collectors, Olympia tab tops are indispensable artifacts of Pacific Northwest brewing history. This can highlights the industry-wide shift toward lightweight drawn aluminum containers. Because Olympia used multiple packaging suppliers and updated text placements over its production runs, slight variations in bottom rim contours, factory stamps, and fluid volume wording provide depth for specialists documenting mid-century can evolution.