Bottled Water Company Buys Wash. Brewery

All-American Bottled Water Corp. is buying the vacant Tumwater brewery from Miller Brewing Co. for $14 million in cash, restoring 40 of the 400 jobs that were lost when Miller closed the Olympia, Wash., plant last summer.

The much-anticipated deal was announced Friday by Don Kubley, vice president of All-American.

The water bottling company bought the brewery's 176-acre site including the main brewery, the historic brewhouse and several other buildings, Kubley said.

All-American wants to bottle the artesian water that helped put Olympia Beer on the map and was the source of its famous slogan: ``It's the water.''

As part of the deal, All-American was required by Miller never to brew beer at the site, Kubley said.

In the early operational stages, All-American is expected to employ about 40 of the nearly 400 workers laid off when the brewery closed in June.

Two unions that represented workers at the brewery have renegotiated three-year contracts with All-American.