pFriem's Educational Program
Historically, breweries haven’t been a great source of information about the beer styles they brew. They often gesture toward a tradition in their marketing material, but briefly and often inaccurately. I’ve been surprised to discover that older breweries often aren’t great historians of their own past. As a result, apocrypha, myths, and romantic facts are recycled, entering the beer drinking bloodstream as truth.
Things are changing. Over the past decade, breweries and drinkers have gotten far more educated about the products they make, seeing the heritage of these beers as key to appreciating them. One such project comes from my partner, pFriem Family Brewers. Michelle Humphrey, the marketing manager there—one of the best in the business—is putting together a series of style-based educational videos. I’m happy to say I’ve helped with a bit of the script-writing on history as a component of partnership, and I’m very pleased with the results.
pFriem makes among the broadest ranges of beer in the US, but they’re especially devoted to Belgian-inspired wood-aged beers. In 2019, they broke ground on a large facility in Cascade Locks to house foeders and barrels, and they truck beer and wort down the Gorge from Hood River for gentle aging there. The thing is, those are unusual beers that people don’t know much about. They’re complex and intense, containing flavors most beer drinkers haven’t encountered or don’t understand. pFriem is committed to building a market for these beers of people who love them as much as the brewers do, and just putting them on a shelf isn’t enough. People need to understand their heritage, what they’re supposed to taste like, how they’re made, and which foods they complement.
In the five-part series Michelle and her team put together, pFriem: starts with an overview (embedded below), offers some history, describes the process of making spontaneous ales, provides tasting notes, and discusses food pairings.
Go give them a look.