5 O'clock
More than you’ll ever need to know about Olympia’s favorite daily ritual.
Music by Olympia’s own Skrill Meadow from the album Lost On Vacation. https://skrillmeadow.bandcamp.com/album/lost-on-vacation
Thanks to the Olympia Tumwater Foundation. Learn more at https://olytumfoundation.org/ Here’s their Youtube channel, It’s great: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQXROlOSss9BZdI3Ccyc16g
A video from the roof of Fish Brewing as the 5 O’clock whistle goes off: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2PnQSgE0Hg
Drone footage of the older brew house by Mike McKinnon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRQqqGIpq_I
If you can’t get enough OLY beer history you should check out Megan Ockerman’s research and writing on The Olympia Brewing Company http://www.dissertations.wsu.edu/Thesis/Spring2017/m_ockerman_051717.pdf Megan says the story about Schmidt’s pivotal visit to the barbershop may be apocryphal. She has a book on the Olympia Brewing Company coming out soon.
For the audio nerds: I had a second mic set up 100 feet away using a limiter and a low input to catch the whistle blast at the golf course. I wish I had set the input even lower.
*Note that everything below here is referencing pictures that can only be seen on the show’s webpage. https://www.welcometoolympia.com/podcast/2019/2/6/5-oclock
The old Olympia Brewing Company steam plant viewed from Capitol Boulevard’s Carlyon bridge. This is where the old whistle blew for decades. Tumwater Valley Municipal Golf Course, where the whistle lives today, is in the distance.
The old brick brewhouse built in 1905. The city of Tumwater now owns it. They’ve taken steps to preserve the building until further plans are made.
The “new” Olympia brewery is in disrepair. Plans to restore and lease out parts of the facility continue to go nowhere. The damage you see here is from a recent fire in the building that once held the company’s main offices.
The whistle that blows daily from Fish Brewing Company in downtown Olympia. The handles you see are obsolete. The whistle is operated by a handle way below in the steam room.