So when we arrived at The Watertown last night for the Knut Bell show, we were greeted by one of the all-time great northwest icons…..The Rainer Beer “R”.

The “R” used to be perched atop the Rainer brewery in downtown Seattle. Along with the Kingdome, it was one of the first landmarks you saw if you drove into Seattle from the south. And most everyone who grew up in the northwest can remember all the great Rainer commercials of the 80’s.

But in the late 90’s, the brewery and Rainer brand were sold in a multi company swap. The brewery building itself would later be purchased by another NW drinking icon, Tully’s Coffee. Who would replace the giant red “R” with a equally giant green “T”. I never gave much thought to where the “R” went, though it had passed through my head once or twice that it would have been a neat thing to get your hands on.

Apparently I wasn’t the only one, because someone now owns the “R” and had it in the back of his nice red older Ford f250. I’m not sure who the guy is, but he was a friend of Knut and the guys. They said something about trying to bring Rainer back to the northwest and that there was a “Rememberrainer.com’ website. The guy even said something about he and a buddy filming some new “classic” commercials. I tried the website, and it doesn’t go anywhere. But I did get a neat Rainer button and a keychain from him.

Rainer Beer returning to the Northwest is an interesting thought. I can’t see that it would ever happen. After all, who would buy it? But say a company like Redhook decided to bring Rainer under it’s roof as a low-cost, but classic Northwest brand. Might be interesting. Not likely to happen however.

EDIT (May 1, 05): I just had a phone call from my friend Nicole. She said that she had a long talk with the guy who drives the “R” truck around when he stopped into her coffee stand for a drink. And this “R” is not the original “R”, that one is in a museum somewhere. This one is an exact replica. He also told her to go to his website, and she can’t get it to work either.