Fairly or unfairly, one beer looms over Seattle's beer history as large as the mountain for which it is named.

When the sun comes out in the Puget Sound area, Mount Rainier is visible for hundreds of miles around. That same sun – on any given Seattleite day – will cast its light on Capitol Hill hipsters, South Lake Union's Amazonians and the last remnants of Ballard's once-proud fishing fleet all quaffing the same light, golden beer.

It's a beer my grandfather drank after he got off work in Seattle after World War Two, one my ne'er do well father rolled out in kegs to the woods of Snohomish County as a rebellious teen in 1973, and one I drink in the dives of my Fremont neighborhood.

Rainier Beer has been produced almost continually in Seattle since 1878 when A.B. Rabbeson began producing it in his Seattle Brewery. The company was pushed out of Washington in 1916 thanks to a premature prohibition in the state. The Rainier brand then absconded to San Francisco and created non-alcoholic products until the 18th Amendment was repealed.

On returning to Washington, Rainier moved into its historic brewing location in Georgetown, adjacent to Interstate 5. Drivers heading north from Portland will have plenty of time to admire the iconic crimson “R” atop the old building – now a self-storage rental business – in Seattle's worsening traffic.