![]() Knight says the little black book was still there when he retired. Paul Pearson and Paul Knight stand in front of their batch of Leopold’s Brew #1 that they brewed using a recipe translated from Leopold Schmidt’s hand-written notes. ![]() I finally figured out it was Leopold’s beer book because it was hand-written in German – with a little English in it – and I could tell it was a beer recipe.” Knight says over time he grew confident enough to write “1896” on the book, as he knew that Schmidt’s first brew in Tumwater was on Octoat the Capital Brewing Company, which became known as the Olympia Brewing Company in 1902. Occasionally I’d go in, if I had a minute, walk by that little book and pick it up and look at it. “It gave the month and the day of the entry,” Knight says, “but no year. Knight recalls that the entire time he was the Brewmaster for Olympia Brewing Company, there was a closet with “several old ledgers and documents in it, but there was this little black book…” The book was designed to fit in a shirt-pocket and had hand-written entries in it, consecutively labeled one through twenty-seven. Olympia beers brewed from the pristine waters of the Tumwater Sand aquifer are back. Well 80 now dutifully quenches that thirst, and beer-lovers no longer have to cry their salty tears into non-artesian brews. In 2003, the last “Oly” beers were brewed from our waters, and in the years since, our community has been missing our iconic brew. A 1910 era piano hand stamped “It’s the Water” will be auctioned off at Well 80’s July 21 event. In the nearly year-and-a-half they’ve been open, the Two Pauls, (Pearson and Knight) have collaborated on four different brews: Original Lager Year ‘64, Original Dark ‘66 Lager, Original Bock ‘96, and now Leopold’s #1 Lager, using the knowledge Knight accrued from his years as brewmaster and Pearson’s contemporary mastery of today’s craft-brewing scene. Well 80’s goal as a brewery “is to follow in the footsteps of Leopold Schmidt, Paul Knight, and all the other pioneers that made great beer from some of the best water in the world.”Īt Well 80, it’s still the water – and they are absolutely making great beer – as all of their signature beers are brewed on-site using the same artesian waters that Schmidt used. In a 1939 survey of artesian wells in downtown Olympia, 96 wells were identified and well number 80 happens to bubble up through the floor in the back of the Well 80 Brewhouse at 514 4th Ave E. It’ll be greeted by a brass band, and a Leopold Schmidt impersonator will be on the scene for a ceremonial keg-tapping of a beer that was created by two Pauls: Paul Pearson, Well 80’s brewmaster and Paul Knight, former brewmaster of Olympia Brewing Company (1974-1997). a wooden keg in a horse horse-drawn carriage will depart from the Schmidt House (Three Meter) in Tumwater and arrive at the Well 80 Brewhouse in downtown Olympia at 2:00 p.m. It’s firmly-rooted in 2019, where the long-fermented history of brewing excellence in Olympia from our pristine artesian waters continues at Well 80 Artesian Brewing Company. Though it may seem antiquated, this story does not take place in 1896. Well 80 is carrying on the tradition of brewing prominence in our region with waters from an artesian well. ![]() It’s Leopold’s #1 Lager, and the barrel is ready to be tapped for the first time… A giant Olympia Brewing Company poster hangs in an area of prominence on a wall of the Well 80 Brewhouse. The wooden keg of beer it’s carrying is precious cargo. The carriage begins to roll forward, away from Three Meter, hooves click-clacking as the horse heads toward its final destination in downtown Olympia.
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