Continuing along a tremendous growth curve that has carried them since their start seven years ago, pFriem Family Brewers is embarking on a journey into new territory: Canning.
“We’re a time and place brewery,” said co-founder Josh Pfriem, adding that canned beer is involved in “more occasion based” environments like backyard BBQs, hiking trips and picnics; and those are the intimate settings the brewery wants to be part of.
“Right now, we’re not in a lot of those occasions, and we’re a brewery for the people,” Pfriem said. “Although we’ve been able to get the beer out into the world, we now have more opportunity to get more beer out there.”
The Hood River brewery will launch two lines of six-pack cans this year: An IPA for $11.99 and a Pilsner at $10.99.
“The IPA and Pilsner represent the styles of beer that are most popular in our current 500 ml format, and we thought that would be great start to our canning program as well,” Pfriem said in a press release, “These two beers pair best with wintertime and summertime activities that we love to do with a beer in hand, so it was a pretty easy choice.”
“We’re not making volume beer for volume beer,” he said, commenting on the price. “If people truly want that beer, they’re going to be willing to pay a couple extra bucks.”
He said that the brewery has been considering canning for several years but was waiting for the right time to pursue that opportunity.
“For us, our first and foremost priority has been to make the best beer we possibly can, and so we will not sacrifice our priorities or morals,” Pfriem said, “We’re proud that we’re actually at a moment where we can bring this to fruition.”
When asked how canning will affect distribution, Pfriem said that the two can lines will allow the brewery to “dig deeper” into its current Pacific Northwest distribution area by allowing them to expand into grocery and convenience stores.
The vast majority of pFriem’s distribution is in Oregon and Washington, with some small areas in British Columbia and the San Francisco area.
“Right now, in our distribution area, you can drive anywhere in a day” and the brewery wants to keep it that way, Pfriem said; but added that, currently, the brewery has only tapped about a quarter of its current market.
“I think the demand is going to be really robust,” said co-founder Rudy Kellner.
To accommodate the 5,000 barrel capacity pFriem intends to can this year, the brewery is significantly renovating its Hood River location in the Halyard building and building a secondary production facility in Cascade Locks.
“This (expansion) seemed like the biggest win for the beer, the beer drinker and our employees,” Pfriem said.
The improvements to pFriem’s Hood River location will take place in three phases spanning from 2019 to 2022: The first phase of the project is already well underway on the westside of the Halyard building and includes an upgrade of their Glyocol chiller, installation of several 20-45 hectoliter German fermenting tanks that brewmaster Gavin Lorde described as “terrifyingly huge,” and a specially designed floor to go with them.
The brewery intends to keep all of its brewing in the Halyard building and to move barrel aged production over to the new Cascade Locks facility, which will also include a large distiller room, packaging amenities, a wine barrels cellar and both cold and dry storage.
“We’re really going to turn that (new facility) into our logistical hub,” said Kellner.
pFriem is working with the Port of Cascade Locks to break ground for a brand new, 20,000 square foot facility in the eastside business block.
The Port of Cascade Locks’ current focus is “building the community to be economically viable in itself” by bringing in jobs and businesses, said General Manager Paul Koch in an earlier interview.
The port has a number of significant economic development projects in the works, including several new businesses planning to move in and a few established businesses with plans to expand; but “the pFriem project is kind of first and foremost right now,” said Economic Development Manager Don Mann at a January meeting.
pFriem is also working closely with the Port of Hood River, which owns the Halyard Building, on the brewery’s Hood River construction projects.
Both ports have recently signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs)— official, non-binding agreements that identify and confirm the intent of two parties — in support of pFriem’s growth.
“With ports, you find stability, access to land and someone with the same motivations (for economic development” that we do,”Pfriem said.
pFriem intends to break ground on the Cascade Locks facility between March and June of this year, Kellner said. Construction itself will take six to nine months and the facility should be up and running by the end of 2019 at the earliest, early 2020 at the latest, he said.
The new facility will open up approximately 5-7,000 square feet of space in the Halyard building — which pFriem needs before it can begin the second phase of improvements there.
Phase two is expected to start in the first half of 2020 and involves construction of a new brewhouse, waste water treatment, malt storage and grain and spent grain silos; and phase three starts in the first half of 2021, involving construction of a new loading dock, cellar and mezzanine expansions and packaging.
Phase one is expected to bring pFriem’s brewing capacity up from its current 20,000 barrel capacity to 30,000 barrels; phase two will take it up to 60,000 barrels, and phase three could bring capacity up to 80-100,000 barrels.
Despite their continued growth, pFriem’s co-founders are dedicated to maintaining the “intimacy and charm” of pFriem’s current operation and assure that customers won’t notice any difference in their operation.
“We really like the level of intimacy we’ve been able to achieve here,” Kellner said, “we want to be the place that people think about when they think about breweries in town … we don’t want to alter the experience at all.”
One way pFriem might choose to continue nurturing relationships with its loyal customers is to launch a program connecting them with special brews that aren’t available for general sale, “just for our family and friends,” Pfriem said. Kellner added that there’s a potential to open up a space for “intimate gatherings” in the Cascade Locks facility.
“Part of our success has been our face-time with people who enjoy our beer,” said co-founder Ken Whiteman, “We don’t want to lose that story side, we want to continue to connect with consumers and talk about beer.”
pFriem’s co-founders and staff say they are confident in the brewery’s ability to expand without losing its intimate vibe.
“We want to continue the diversity, we want to continue the quality, we want to continue the innovation” of pFriem’s beer, Pfriem said.
“On the ethos side, we’re stronger than we’ve ever been,” he said, “There’s no challenge that we have not been able to meet yet …it will not only be an incredible leap for pFriem, but it will be an incredible leap for the drinker.”
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