Olympia
For nearly 110 years, the secret of this Great Northwest beer hasn’t been a secret at all: “It’s the Water.” This and a whole lot more. Since 1896, our famous brewing water, superior ingredients and unsurpassed skill as brewers have combined to make “Oly” an affordable beer with a particularly satisfying taste.
95% malt.
95% malt.
1.8
313 reviews
Irwindale, United States
Community reviews
Served on tap in a pint glass
Appearance – The beer is served a light golden color with a one finger head of fizzy white foam. The head fades super-fast, leaving almost instantly and leaving almost no lace on the sides of the glass
Smell – The aroma of the beer is strongest of a corn syrup sweetness mixed with just a hint of grass and a little bit of bread. Along with these aromas comes just a hint of paper and some light metallic smells.
Taste – the taste begins with a sweet corn syrup taste mixed with some other sweet tastes of caramel and a little bit of a bready taste. As the taste advances even more corn and caramel sweetness comes to the tongue and with it comes a little bit of a paper and grassy taste. These flavors take the taste to its end where they leave a rather sweet and moderately smooth taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body of the beer is average for an adjunct lager of 4.6 % with a carbonation level that is on the average side for the style. The moderateness of the thickness and carbonation are perfect for the style and make for an easy drinker overall.
Overall – Not a flavor powerhouse, but overall a very easy drinker at a low price. A decent cheap session brew.
Classic pale lager from the days when beer was uncomplicated. Is it great beer? Certainly not. Is it drinkable? Yep. Not only is it tasteless, it doesn’t even have an aftertaste. Now that’s an accomplishment! If this were vodka we’d rate it very highly for its smoothness. What can you expect from a beer that has "It’s the Water" as its label? They’re telling us up front that it’s water.
My first experience with this was in the late 70s while I was in Panama. It was one of the cheapest beer around and all of the local San Blas Indian workers on base drank it. I tried it and hated the taste. It felt like drinking a can of yeast flavored water. Even ice cold it was intolerable to drink. I actually thought it was a local beer until I read the label. I didn’t believe that something this bad was actually made in the US. It wasn’t quite as bad as Hamms but it wasn’t much better.
The first time I had this beer was back in the late 1970’s. In our closed world then, this was a special beer because it was American and I was Canadian. Although I lived only 50 miles from the border it was a tough beer to find. When I finally hit the age to drink in the USA, I finally got to taste this beer. I found that it was crisp and refreshing with a nice sweet cereal taste. The 2014 version is made here in Canada, and it’s shit.
Hole ~ When I went to school in Olympia
Well everyone’s the same
What do you do with a revolution?
355 ml can purchased from Sobeys Liquor outlet, and served in an undimpled mug. Pours bright yellow, akin to corn oil, with a large white head that vanishes quickly, with plenty of carbonation. Aroma is very sweet malts and corn oil; flavor is the same obnoxious malt and corn medley. Slightly slick body. Any hop presence is masked by all the corniness. The malt and corn lingers long enough to make you want to staple an eviction notice to your tongue and a reminder to never buy this bilge-brew again to your eyelids. Canadian Olympia is made in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, so tasters who found it more palatable must be getting American-sourced Oly, with its vaunted artesian spring water, or something. I managed to finish the supply, albeit unhappily. I’m certain this is an emulsion of corn oil and Regina tap water.
16 oz can poured into a shaker. The aromas of corn, grain, and cereal are most notable. It pours an oily yellow with a white foam head. The taste is medium sweet. The texture is oily with fizzy carbonation and light body. Flavors of corn bread and cereal dominant. It has a slight astringentcy with a syrupy aftertaste. Slightly above average corn adjunct lager.
"Mouthfeel akin to a Keystone light...otherwise your standard crappy american cheap lager. I must put in a disclaimer - I did not pay for this swill, it was given freely. Still sucked, though.
Similar to Rainer, a cheap Pacific Northwest Lager.
First tried May 22nd, 2013.
It’s an amazing feat of modern technology when you can take pure water, add some ingredients, and end up with something lighter and less flavorful than the original water.
This is a good brew for an american light beer. Clean, refreshing and smooth. No funk or lingering aftertaste. It actually does seem that the water is higher quality than typical light beers. It may be all in my head and its made in the back of the bud factory, but it is my new go to cheapo brew. Golden amber in color, a little head and lacing, not too carbonated. Just go get some, you will enjoy it. Get the Orange box!
Pours yellow with a thick white head. Grass, grain, light floral hop and malt aroma. Corn, grass, grain, light floral hop and malt flavors. Light body and average carbonation. Grain and grass finish.
Stamped on the bottom of the can, it reads "July 28, 2014."
I poured this into a pint glass.
The appearance was an extremely clear yellow color with fast rising carbonation feeding into the head. A vast amount of carbonated foamy clingy lacing sticks nicely to the glass as the head dies.
The smell has the cooked corn and rice but actually doesn’t come across as disgusting as some other AAL’s.
The taste is sweet through the previously mentioned smells. There is no aftertaste nor is there any finish.
On the palate, it sits fairly light and shows an exceptionally well sessionability. The carbonation sits fairly well for the style and comes across fairly smooth.
Overall, whoah, where did this come from? Finally, an AAL I can get behind. In my opinion, this blows Budweiser outa the water. I was a little surprised about this, but say to the AAL crowd seek this over Budweiser and you’ll be surprised.
Draught at King’s Hardware, Seattle
Blond color. Poor aroma and flavor, some corn, and very low bitterness.
12oz can (Old Notes)-Pours a clear golden with almost no head. Aroma of corn, grains, and malt. Taste of the same. This light bodied brew was not as bad as I thought it would be.
Being that macros can brew with up to 50% adjuncts I expected the typical grainy sweet swill out of o’l "oly" here. To my surprise with the first sip it was pleasantly clean tasting with a light but solid malt flavor. Then I pulled up the commercial description and found it was 95% malt, shocking but validating.There is less carbonation bite in this pale lager than most macros, but with its subtly sweet malty clean refreshing flavor this brew is the adjunct lager for the PNW! Next time I’m at a bbq or ball game hand me an "oly"!
Poured from 12 oz can into pint glass.
Appearance: pours a thick, frothy white head which gradually recedes leaving mild lacing. Clear, light golden appearance with plenty of streaming carbonation.
Aroma: white bread dough, yeast, maybe a little corn.
Mouthfeel: light bodied and fairly fizzy with a pleasant dry finish.
Flavor: lightly toasted barley malt, yeast roll, corn and some grassy hops in the finish.
Overall: pleasant and easy drinking. Well done to the style.
Can. Pours yellow, it’s beery. Not much that can be said, or should be said. Not like when Clint was drinking it back in the 70s. But then, not much is like the 70s anymore.
12oz can, thanks to b3shine. Date printed on the bottom of the can reads 1/07/13. Clear golden orange color, with some dark particles suspended in the body. Bigger off-white head. Good thin bit retains. Leaves plenty, thicker lace. Stale, musty, lightly skunky malt aroma. Lightly acidic chalky bite. Moderate bitter, light sour taste, moderate sweet. Definite awful acidic bite in the finish. Medium body. Smooth, lighter carbonation, more dry finish. Texture and appearance aren’t too bad, but the taste and flavor is just way awful. I managed to finish this, though, so it’s got that going for it. A fair amount of effort on my part was required. I had a sandwich to help me with the process.
Smells like pabst. Looks like pabst. Tastes like pabst. Wait is that a hipster? Pretty sure.
Can 24oz search for Bigfoot: Poured golden clear with huge two finger foamy white head. Aroma is sweet grass and straw. Taste is sweet grass, corn, grain and malt.
Best by 04MAR13
Pale gold glass with a solid stream of bubbles from the bottom. No foam. Smells of light hay, lemon, grain and a little bit of apple. Taste is clean and corny, with some grain and a little light white grape juice. The feeling is light, crisp and moderately highly carbonated with a wet finish. All and all I’m not particularly disappointed.
Serving type: bottle
12-23-2012
Can poured into a shaker. Pours a clear, pale gold with less than a half finger of white head. Aroma of corn and grains with a hint of some oddly dank malt. Taste is very lightly bitter. Grains with a bit of earthy hops. Full bodied with a surprisingly creamy texture. Lively carbonation and a much longer than expected finish. Overall, not too shabby. Nothing to seek out but I’ll drink what I have.
Can. Pours gold with a white head. Grainy malts, faint sweetness, straw, and a touch of corny sweetness. Not awful.
Really bad even on tap at the Brewery in Washington.............................
355ml Can, 4.8%. Clear golden yellow pour with a decent white head. Medium carbonation. Aroma is sweet, appley, malts, and a fairly potent hoppiness. Mouthfeel is bubbly, pleasant. Taste is layered with malty sweetness and a substantial hoppiness, but doesn’t finish dry or bitter... the sweetness lingers a little too long for my taste. Still unreal quality for a dollar beer.
Smells of lemongrass and biscuit. Taste like lemongrass. Like water on the palate. Nothing really to it.
On tap at Mountain brewers fest 2013, nice
Clear light golden with a small white head. Corn, wheat and some honey
Not as good as I remember when I used to drink this many moons ago!
Good beer to drink all day in the sun but nothing you want to get if you're looking for a tasty beer
Can. This is a classic northwest beer. Thats all there is to say. Its malty water.
continuing the cheap beer trip. it’s been a heck of a trip so far. this time i’m going for Olympia, where they blame it on the water. I have bad memories about this one growing up. was really hard for me to pick this up and try it again. pour is actually pretty nice yellow color, nice head, lasting film of bubbles and more than expected lacing. Miller has a variety of these cheap beers. The can says pabst, so i’m wondering why they have PBR in the fridge but not this one. i don’t like PBR much. first sip is pretty thin. actually almost pleasant taste to this one. little candy sweetness and well blended with whatever hops are in here. nice balance. i don’t really mind this stuff, maybe just a tad too sweet, but overall an easy drinker and a price you can’t really beat. Not mad at this one. about 8 more cans to go and i’ll see u at work!