pFriem Family Brewers broke ground on the 20,000-square-foot facility last summer and expects to have most of the barrels from the brewery’s barrel aging program moved in within the next few months.
“We’re going to grow into it,” said cofounder Rudy Kellner. “We’re ambitious about all of our beer and all of our plans.”
The brewery was challenged by the Port of Cascade Locks to design their ideal facility, said Head Brewer Gavin Lord, and pFriem took that challenge with two things in mind: “One, that we can fulfill our wildest dreams … but also that we could become more efficient and a little bit better in our practices.”
For Lord, one important aspect of efficiency was being able to move the barrels that he wanted without having to touch any other barrels. Both the warm room and cold box were designed with that in mind, with bay doors that allow a forklift to access individual batches.
The space includes a dedicated “Coolship Chapel” for open fermentation: pFriem plans to send over hot wort from the Hood River facility and, once its poured into the coolship (a large, shallow vat traditionally used to cool hot wort), the chapel’s windows are opened, and the wort is left to cool — collecting microflora as it does. Once the wort is cool, it’s barreled and left to ferment — only when that’s done can the brewers taste their creation and see how the microflora affected the brew.
“There’s only so much you can know without committing to brewing that beer,” said Lord.
Brewers have been tasting each batch and then blending it on top of a fruit they think pairs well, Lorde said, but there is the possibility of launching a 100 percent spontaneous beer in the future. “The sky’s the limit and there are endless possibilities,” Lord said, “The beauty of the Cascade Locks facility is that we’ll be able to experiment, we’ll be able to expand these programs.”
pFriem’s business strategy is currently focused around creating a space for the brewers to experiment and have fun with beer, while continuing to brew the high-quality products pFriem customers have come to expect.
“You can’t make crazy stuff if the stuff isn’t moving and not being sold,” said Kellner. “We were lucky to realize that some time ago and we have really been investing more in that business, in the people, in the organization, to be able to do it better tomorrow than we did today.”
When asked if the construction is inhibiting their operations, Kellner said that the construction is “kind of a way of life,” and that both management and staff “have been able to deal with it better operationally and also emotionally.”
“We’ve been under construction for seven and a half years,” said cofounder Josh Pfriem, “there are certain creative people that thrive in that enviornment.”
The Cascade Locks facility is intended to serve as pFriem’s logistical hub, with plenty of both dry and cold storage space for raw materials and finished beer, and it will be the new home of pFriem’s barrel aging and spontaneous beer programs.
“We needed all of these things to grow and we needed it all to grow somewhere else,” said Lord, referencing a lack of space in the brewery’s primary facility on the Hood River waterfront.
pFriem is currently in the middle of its second phase of improvement projects to its Hood River location. The first phase began in January 2019 and finished in August, involved the construction of a new canning line, upgrading the Glyocol chiller and building a new fermentation cellar. The second phase — involving construction of a new brewhouse, a wastewater treatment system, malt room and several grain silos, as well as sewer and drainage work and some minor interior remodeling, such as expansion of the employee restroom — began in October 2019 and is expected to be finished by April 2020.
“We love it here (in Hood River),” said Kellner. “We think it’s a great home for us here, and we’re committed to our home here and our home in Cascade Locks,” he said, adding, “the pieces (of the expansion) are all connected.”
In total, pFriem grew its initial 20,000-barrel brewing capacity by approximately 50 percent in 2019 and expects a 20 percent growth in 2020.
Part of that growth included the launch of canned IPA and Pilsner: pFriem’s two most-popular brews. Canning is now about a third of pFriem’s total production, while draft beer remains about half.
By the end of phase three, which is expected to start in 2021 and involves construction of a new loading dock, cellar and mezzanine expansions and packaging, pFriem hopes to be between 80,000 and 100,000 barrel-capacity.
The Cascade Locks facility will have an ultimate capacity of a couple thousand barrels, Lorde said, “But really that’s less on our radar of how can we make better quality beer, how can we make more of those, and how can we communicate with our customers.”
One way that pFriem is trying to enhance the customer’s experience is by opening up its beer club, Union Local 541, to a wider audience.
The club was launched in July 2019 as an invitation-only group to receive regular allocations of “rare” pFriem beer and access to VIP events; and though spots are still limited, the club is accepting new members.
“We think that’s a really important part of the future for us and we want to get closer to the people who drink our beer,” said pFriem cofounder Ken Whiteman.
“I think the thing that is going to limit us is ‘does this make the experience better,” he said, adding that having more members opens the club up to more opportunities.
For more information on Union 541, visit www.pfriembeer.com/pfriemsters-union or email union@pfriembeer.com.
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