BC: Who came up with this beer’s recipe?
All of our beers have team influence and are in a constant stage of progression, but I am the one that originally came up with this beer.

BC: What’s your favorite aspect of this beer (flavor, aroma, etc.)?
Huge tropical hop aroma, balanced with bright maltiness.

BC: Where does this beer’s name come from?
With all our beers we just name them what they are. In this case its a “American IPA" so the beer is simply named IPA.

BC: Is this your “desert island beer?”
This beer could be a close contender for my desert island beer, but I would want something that is less strong and one that you could drink lots of.

BC: Can you describe this beer in 10 words or less?
Tropical, mango, grapefruit, blueberry, dank, fresh, light candy malt, and hoppy!

BC: Do you know a story – or have a personal story – that revolves around this beer?
I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, so I have been drinking IPAs since their early rise. I remember being in college and hunting for the freshest and best IPAs made by small breweries in Northern Washington. We couldn’t get enough of those fresh hoppy beers. Even with all the beers and styles we brew at pFriem I am still a sucker for a bright hoppy fresh IPA.

BC: Who came up with this beer’s recipe?
All of our beers have team influence and are in a constant stage of progression, but I am the one that originally came up with this beer.

BC: What’s your favorite aspect of this beer (flavor, aroma, etc.)?
Its drinkability and subtle complexity. This beer drinks so well, it's an everyday drinker and also a year-round drinker for me and my crew.

BC: Where does this beer’s name come from?
With all our beers we just name them what they are. In this case its a historical style “Pilsner,” so the beers simply named Pilsner.

BC: Is this your “desert island beer?”
Yes! If I had to only have one beer on a desert island it would be this beer!

BC: Can you describe this beer in 10 words or less?
Brilliantly gold, spring flowers, zesty, crisp, snappy, floral, and refreshing.

BC: Do you know a story – or have a personal story – that revolves around this beer?
I love Pilsner. I have been brewing Pilsner my entire professional brewing career, never have I come across a style of beer that is thirst-quenching, dynamic, flavorful, and just so damn good. When we opened pFriem I was very excited to brew Pilsner, but at the time lagers were not all the rage like they are currently. My mind would have been blown if I new that pFriem Pilsner would become our flagship beer.

BC: Who came up with this beer’s recipe?
This beer has been a team effort. The idea of making Lambic-inspired beers at pFriem was a dream of mine many years before we opened, but our Head Brewer Gavin Lord has put years of work into getting this program off the ground. This beer is much more process-oriented then recipe-driven, and Gavin has done a wonderful job of harnessing all the aspects of this beer and making them come together.

BC: What’s your favorite aspect of this beer (flavor, aroma, etc.)?
Using neutral French Oak barrels from wineries around us, microflora that is found here in the Hood River Valley, raspberries from Willamette valley, and that we are a very modern brewery that makes high-quality lagers and hop-forward beers as well as funky and barrel-aged beers. All these things put together gives a large nod at tradition, but makes this a unique beer to pFriem.

BC: Where does this beer’s name come from?
With all our beers we just name them what they are. Frambozen is Dutch for Raspberry.

BC: Is this your “desert island beer?”
Although this would be a dynamic desert island beer, I would prefer more of a day-to-day drinker then this beer.

BC: Can you describe this beer in 10 words or less?
Perfumy fresh raspberries, jammy, rose petals, floral, prickly,and tantalizing.

BC: Who came up with this beer’s recipe?
This was one of pFriem’s original core beers that we came to market with when we opened. I made the original recipe for this beer, but with all our beers we take a team approach to them and are constantly changing them. Max Kravitz, our Quality Control and Lab Manager, keeps an extra special watch on this beer, he is always challenging us to make this beer better and better. It has been fun to watch this beer grow and change. It was a great beer in the early days, but it is fun to try to make it better each time we brew it.

BC: What’s your favorite aspect of this beer (flavor, aroma, etc.)?
The beauty of this beer is the nuance of all these flavors. Making Wit is like making Pilsner, everything has to work together in harmony or the beer just doesn’t work. I love how this beer is full and creamy on the palate, yet finishes dry and effervescent.

BC: Where does this beer’s name come from?
With all our beers we just name them what they are. In this case its a historical style “Wit,” so the beer is simply named Wit.

There’s always been the temptation to drink and write. For years, I’ve resisted. As much as I’ve enjoyed the drug-infused work of New Journalism junkie Hunter S. Thompson or visiting the literate, moonshined swales of Faulkner’s unpronounceable county in Mississippi, there was the acknowledgement that my own oeuvre was rarely advanced through anything other than coffee, sometimes cigarettes when I was younger and the occasional beer if I’m reviewing a story that I’ve already written. To say I write for beer is true in many respects, but generally the ’twain doesn’t meet in the actual act of writing.

But this story is different. It’s about recalling an experience that can only be described as transporting. To return to that day, I intend to crack a bottle of Sonoma Pride and will proceed to drink this rare elixir throughout this rendition in order to re-introduce an extraordinary California experience, to seek out that maelstrom in reverse, if you will, that transported me upward as if in a land-borne waterspout.

Just how I came across this rare bottle is a story ne’er to be told, or at least held in confidence until this gray beard reaches the bellybutton. There was a redhead, with piercing and knowing Sphinx-like eyes of blue involved – until she called me “Sir” and then, well, anyhow.