The love of brewing has taken Josh Pfriem to Belgium, Utah and Oregon, but the Meadowdale High graduate will always consider Washington home.
This week he’s bringing some of his newest creations to the Puget Sound region.
Pfriem (pronounced “Freem”), who opened Pfriem Family Brewers in Hood River, Oregon, in 2012, is hosting four bottle-release parties in Seattle and Bellingham over a three-day span starting May 5 (see box). Pfriem Family Brewers has been generating a lot of buzz for its Belgian-inspired-meets-Northwest beers over the past two years, but this is the first time its beers have been available in bottles.
Pfriem said the brewery worked over a year on bottling and the end result bears that out. Pfriem’s beers come in three different styles: Classic in capped 500-millileter German-style bottles, and Select and Barrel-Aged in beautiful corked and hooded 375-millileter bottles. The glass and corks come from Europe. The logo design is clean and simple.
“We really wanted to create something special,” Pfriem said of bottling.
Pfriem will eventually release 23 bottled varieties this year, but it’s starting with eight: three in its Classic Series (IPA, Blonde IPA, Pilsner); three in its Select Series (Saison, Belgian Strong Blonde, Belgian Strong Dark); and two in its Barrel-Aged Series (Flanders Red, Flanders Blonde).
The Barrel-Aged Series is receiving high praise. The Beervana beer blog in Portland recently wrote that Pfriem’s Flanders Red is the first good American version he’s had, calling it “sublime.”
Pfriem said his Flanders beers are aged 18 to 24 months in oak barrels, undergoing a slow transformation through lactic fermentation. It’s a delicate process and the end result is slightly tart beers with subtle notes of green apple and lemon (blonde) and cherry and tobacco (red).
“These are very beautiful beers,” said Pfriem, who added that the beers have yeast and sugar added before bottling to create a secondary fermentation in the bottle. “They’re definitely a labor of love.”
Pfriem fell in love with the Flanders style and other Belgian beers when he and his wife, Annie, toured a number of breweries in Belgium in 2008.
“It was incredible to taste the beers fresh and see the heritage and how the beer was integrated into society,” Pfriem said. “There are so many wonderful nuances to Belgian beers.”
After graduating from Western Washington University in 2005, Pfriem worked for the Utah Brewers Cooperative in Salt Lake City, before moving back to Bellingham to work under Will Kemper at Chuckanut Brewery in 2008.
Pfriem said he learned a lot from his time at Chuckanut, including how to make very flavorful beers on a small scale.
“Will is very precise in his brewing. Working with him taught me a lot about the technical side of the beer-making process,” Pfriem said.
After two years at Chuckanut, Pfriem went to work at Full Sail Brewing, where he learned more about the business side of the industry and what it takes to play with the big boys.
Throughout his journey, Pfriem said the idea was always to open his own brewery. He went through four different business models before eventually hitting on the right mix with Pfriem Family Brewers, Hood River and a pair of investors who have supported his vision.
“It’s really important to have a vision of who you want to be and how you put those pieces together,” said Pfriem, who opened the brewery with help from investors Kent Whiteman and Rudy Kellner. “Any weak link and your business will fail. Ten percent of breweries are failing and we’ll see that rise. We knew we had to start with quality and we’ve done that.”
Besides growing up in Edmonds and attending Meadowdale, Pfriem has another connection to Snohomish County. While attending Western, both Josh and Annie, would commute down to work as servers on weekends at Alligator Soul, a cajun/creole restaurant that was open in downtown Everett from 1999 to 2010.
“Those days were a hoot,” Pfriem said. “We’d serve up gumbo, have a ton of fun with customers and Star Drums and Lady Keys, and then head over to Fred’s (Rivertown Alehouse) and have great beer.”
Bottle tasting
Pfriem Family Brewers will host four bottle-release parties this week, starting May 5 in Bellingham. Here’s a look at the schedule.
Elizabeth Station, Bellingham, 5 p.m. May 5
Chuck’s Hop Shop, Seattle, 6 p.m. May 6
Esquin, Seattle, 5 p.m. May 7
The Beer Junction, Seattle, 5 p.m. May 7
Look for Pfriem bottles on local shelves soon.
For more information, visit www.pfriembeer.com.
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