The Best Breweries of 2018

January 7, 2019

By: Editorial Dept.

Brewery of the Year: pFriem Family Brewers

Two World Class Beers & One Exceptional Beer

Total Score: 287

Highest-scoring beers

Oud Bruin – 96

Maple Barrel Aged Smoked Porter – 96

Nectarine Golden Ale – 95

Congratulations to pFriem Family Brewers of Hood River, Oregon for being named The Beer Connoisseur’s 2018 Brewery of the Year!

It’s been an accomplished year for pFriem Family Brewers, which is now BC’s Brewery of the Year for the second time in three years. This year they submitted two beers that were rated as world class, pFriem Oud Bruin and Maple Barrel Aged Smoked Porter. Beyond that, the brewery submitted an impressive thirteen beers that were rated as exceptional – a record for the most highly rated beer in a single year for a brewery in the history of the Official Review.

To top off its 2018 accolades, pFriem also had an excellent showing at the 2018 Great American Beer Festival where it won a Gold Medal in the Mixed-Culture Brett Beer category for Druif and a Silver Medal for pFriem Pilsner in the German-Style Pilsner category. The brewery was also named the Brewers Association’s 2018 Mid-Sized Brewing Company of the Year.

Additionally, it was awarded a World Beer Cup Gold Medal in the Belgian Style Fruit Beer category for Nectarine Golden Ale and four awards at the Oregon Beer Awards (including Large Brewery of the Year).

Since opening its doors in 2012, pFriem Family Brewers has produced some of the most interesting and well-brewed examples of styles they choose to explore, and the brewery has been highly acclaimed throughout its six years of operation. According to Josh Pfriem, Brewmaster and Co-Founder, “Our goals for the brewery are modest ones — to build a business that was tightly integrated with our family lives, to honor the place we call home and love so dearly, and to create a warm, friendly space where others could experience our creations. Our goals for the creations themselves are anything but modest.”

pFriem has long attempted to follow its motto of “Proudly Crafted, Humbly Offered” when creating the Belgian and German-inspired brews upon which the brewery can hang its hat. By employing high-quality natural ingredients and taking painstaking efforts to ensure they produce only the finest brews, pFriem has well earned its 2018 Brewery of the Year title. pFriem is truly a beer connoisseur’s paradise and we encourage you, the reader, to visit the brewery and experience world class for yourself.

pFriem Family Brewers
707 Portway Ave.
Suite 101
Hood River, OR 97031

Tel.: (541) 321-0490
www.pfriembeer.com

pFriem Family Brewers submitted an outstanding thirteen beers in the 2018 Official Review that scored in the exceptional category. The two top-scoring world class beers the brewery submitted were pFriem Oud Bruin and Maple Barrel Aged Smoked Porter.

The brewery’s take on the fabled Oud Bruin style was an expertly crafted brew aged in an authentic foeder with notes of sherry, leather, marionberry, apple butter and Cabernet wine all finished off with a tart and jammy aftertaste that lingers. Our judge imagined pairing this beer with steamed seafood such as buttered lobster or shrimp.

In contrast, Maple Barrel Aged Smoked Porter featured a complex array of eight different specialty malts – creating a rich feast for a drinker’s palate to enjoy. Our judge compared the flavor to a bacon breakfast that was well balanced with a backdrop of smooth, light roast coffee.

Nectarine Golden Ale was aged six months in Sauvignon Blanc barrels then finished with nectarines to produce an elegant brew that’s redolent of marmalade, citrus zest, peach nectar and cantaloupe.

pFriem's 2018 World Class & Exceptional Reviews

Maple Barrel Aged Smoked Porter – 96

pFriem Oud Bruin – 96

Nectarine Golden Ale – 95

pFriem Vienna Lager – 95

pFriem Flanders Blonde – 95

Super Saison – 94

Lemon Zest Farmhouse Ale – 94

Bailey’s Taproom 10th – 94

pFriem Barrel Aged Saison II – 94

pFriem Flanders-Style Red Ale – 94

pFriem Helles Lager – 93