Will the real Olympia Brewing Co. whistle please stand up?

Twenty-one years ago, the brewery on Custer Way in Tumwater that produced Olympia beer closed. As part of that farewell, the steam whistle, which had long been heard by the community at shift changes, blew its top one more time, a long sustained emotional goodbye.

Since then, a whistle has been sounded at 5 p.m. at the former Fish Tale Brew Pub in downtown Olympia, but it is not the whistle. The brewery’s whistle, a three-bell whistle that sat atop a building at the brewery, became part of Tumwater Valley Golf Club.

And that’s where it has been ever since, according to city officials.

Given that the brewery was based in Tumwater, the city had a close relationship with the brewery operators, said Tumwater Parks and Recreation Director Chuck Denney, who has worked for the city for 31 years. The city approached the brewery about the whistle, wanting to make sure it didn’t disappear after the brewery closed, and they received it, he said.

In fact, the city received approval from Miller Brewing Co. — Miller was the final of several owners of the operating brewery — to remove the whistle on June 24, 2003, according to documents shared with The Olympian.

Outside of some time spent in storage, the original whistle now sits atop the golf cart barn at the golf course and is powered by compressed air instead of steam.

Initially, years ago, the city decided to blow the whistle during the same times that the brewery had: 8 a.m., noon, 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. But after about 45 days, the city received too many complaints from residents and they stopped sounding it, Denney said.

Now, the whistle is not used daily, but it is sounded multiple times throughout the year, said golf course operations coordinator Tyler Trimble.

The course toots the whistle for its Fourth of July celebration, the Artesian Brewfest and during “shotgun” golf tournaments, when all players start at the same time on all 18 holes. And if there’s lightning storm, they will sound the whistle so that golfers know they have to get off the course, he said.

Trimble demonstrated the whistle for The Olympian on a recent morning. The compressed air tank holds 90-100 pounds per square inch, but after one sustained blast, it reduced that total to 30 PSI, he said. And because of the three-bell structure of the whistle, the sound is more chord-like than a single note.

You can also feel the sound as it shimmies and echoes its way through the valley. Even now, Trimble said, when they use the whistle, it’s not uncommon for people to call the course pro shop and ask, “What was that?”

About the whistle

The age of the whistle isn’t known, although it is possibly a Lonergan Air and Steam Whistles brand, according to information shared with The Olympian.

Karen Johnson, curator of the Olympia-Tumwater Foundation Schmidt House, the family that originally founded the brewery, said the whistle was part of the more modern brewery on Custer Way, but was not part of the original brick brewhouse below Tumwater Falls.

Paul Knight, who worked at the brewery for 36 years and managed the brewing department, said the whistle was mounted atop the boiler room building, which produced the steam for it. That building is somewhat difficult to see today, but during its operations the building was most easily seen from Capitol Boulevard, he said.

Knight said he lived seven miles from the brewery and could still hear the whistle. Knight, too, said the steam gave the whistle a slightly different sound.

There’s been another recent use for the brewery whistle. When Mount Olympus Brewing opened its taproom at the Tumwater Craft District on Capitol Boulevard at E Street, the whistle was sounded as part of their grand opening, Trimble said.

Perhaps that’s where the whistle belongs, or at least that’s an idea proposed by Olympia resident Jill Severn. Severn, a former member of The Olympian’s editorial board, said she is looking into whether the whistle could be moved to the craft district and then tooted five days a week at 5 p.m.

Severn didn’t realize how meaningful the whistle is to the area until she was walking downtown with a friend who had previously experienced homelessness. The whistle at the former Fish Tale Brew Pub blew at 5 p.m. To Jill’s friend that meant dinner time at the Union Gospel Mission.

Severn said it was a revelatory moment for her, adding there are “different and powerful reasons to feel connected to the whistle.”

“It’s a community unifier, a part of who we are,” she said.

Although the whistle at the former Fish Tale Brew Pub is not the original whistle, Tumwater Parks and Recreation Director Denney said he appreciates the 5 p.m. tradition the business maintained. A new business called Ilk Lodge, serving Ilk Beer, has filled that space and blew the whistle for its soft opening on the first day of Arts Walk.

“If they can do it and we can, too, that’s awesome,” Denney said.

Former Fish Tale has new tenant, an eatery reopens, and a hotel and restaurant open in Lacey

A new taproom comes to Tumwater and a taco restaurant aims to open May 1