Kellerbier
pFriem Family Brewers

Draft pint enjoyed at the Beaverton location of John's Marketplace, in a nonic pint glass.

The beer is a warm yellow-gold leaning ever so slightly towards amber. The clean white head quickly shrinks to a collar and a very narrow island. The nose is grainy and sweet, with mild yeasty and grassy notes. The flavor is slightly less sweet than promised by the nose. Malt and cereal grains dominate. The malt flavor is a little husky, like the flavor you get in the back of your throat after standing near the grain mill at a homebrew shop. Delicate honey and lemon flavors emerge in the finish. Hop character is earthy and slightly grassy. The body is on the lighter side of medium, with healthy carbonation. Overall, this is another reliably good beer from pFriem, although the sweetness was heavier than I prefer.

these dudes strike again with an old world lager, go figure, they do about a dozen of them and they are all outstanding. it drinks easy but still flavorful, refreshing without being minimal, seems refined for a style thats usually a little less polished in the classic sense, very well lagered, dry, snappy, and professional, as good as anticipated from a brewery i trust unequivocally to deliver, especially in these lager styles. i love how subtle but also full spectrum the grain is here, decidedly european, fresh, husky, earthy, and lightly toasted without making this rich or anything, almost nutty, light honey, german to me, mineral forward, and there are some hops here too adding balancing bitterness and obvious freshness, old world lager yeast but well deployed and this is crazy brisk overall, lighter than i am making it sound to drink though for sure, its quick, almost all at once, but way more robust than like an american yellow beer lager, just as easy though, impressive! the flavor has great balance, is european all the way but mellow in the right places, quick finishing, a bit bready in the center, but also warms up well without heavying. masterful job with the lagering, super well carbonated, and overall one of the better keller types ive had in a long time. its amazing how many beers these guys make, and how good they all are, i mean, they literally do everything, and they crush it all. easily one of the best breweries in the country, and i think that pretty much every time i have their beer, whatever it is. this one slaps! hope it sticks around all summer, its perfect for the season...

Draft at pFriem. Golden pour, mild haze, white foamy head. Malty aroma, bready, biscuity. Taste is light, full, malty. Tapers off to a mild crispy finish.

2022-05-28
500ml pour at Rhein Haus in Seattle.

Pours clear golden, big thick dense head, tons of carbonation. Smell is clean grain and wet grass, light citrus.

Taste is similar -- heavier on grain. Moderately sweet.

Feel is medium, leaning toward heavy. Overall, good.

 

Poured into a pilsner glass. Pours a lightly hazy, light to medium golden amber with a two finger white head with great retention and thick lacing. Aroma of husky, grainy malt, light grassy hops; a bit of mineral. Flavor is grainy malt with light husk rawness, lemon, light grassy hops and a suggestion of honey into the finish. Medium bodied with light creaminess. A very flavorful and authentic tasting example of this style. The somewhat rough graininess at the start is beautifully balanced by the light honey sweetness in the finish. A very nice example of this uncommon style.

Pours a hazy light golden color, a few floaters. Tight, white head. We can pick up aromas of yeast, bread and some fruity notes. Very refreshing, mild hops, plenty of flavor. This beer was brewed specifically for a local retailer (New Seasons) and so is not in general distribution outside of the Portland metro area. Too bad, this is a real keeper.

500ml bottle

Pours two fingers of creamy white head into my pilsner glass. After a few minutes, a finger remains, pretty good retention, but that is normal with this glass having high nucleation – there is loads of carbonation coming up. Body is completely clear. Color is a light gold, just a hair darker than straw. Overall it looks nice so far, albeit not unfiltered.

Nose is fresh cut grass, noble hops, mineral, extremely light malt backbone/sourdough. Seems to be pretty hop forward for the style, which I don’t mind at all. Smells really nice.

Flavor is nice as well. Sourdough malt character is pretty consistent from beginning to end. Hops hit in the front end, but not quite as hard as on the nose. Bitterness lingers just a bit. On some sips the flavor completely drops off towards the end of the palate though. Still, pretty nice flavor all around but unfortunately it’s being diminished by the fleeting carbonation, maybe I can’t use these nucleative glasses anymore.

Body is very light. Extremely dry. Carbonation is the biggest issue here as it leaves a little to be desired with the flavor and mouthfeel. Not flat, but lower than it should be. On one hand it’s not the beers fault, on the other hand this is the proper glassware…although, it’s holding up much better than some have, so that’s worth quite a bit.

Drinkability is very high. It’s tasty and goes down easy.

Appearance turned out pretty great. Lacing was a little patchy, but generally thick down the glass. Head hung around in a small fashion all the way down the glass.

Overall this is a really solid lager. I’m pretty sure I’ve decided pFriem’s specialty is lagers, followed by IPA’s. It’s too bad that the carbonation is a small flaw, or else this would be a great beer. Again, I’ll try to cut it some slack because it is probably the glassware, but still.

 

As with most of pFriem's offerings, Keller Bier is beautiful. A glowing straw yellow with a near lime green tint to it. Clean and almost perfectly clear, with a frothy and lazy white foam above. A good amount of spit spot lacing clings to the glass.

Simplistic and rustic cereal grain and a dab of honey flow from the surface. A little dried grass and the faintest amount of soap, and that's all she wrote.

Once again dominated by grain in the flavor, but subtle notes of promised fruits start to shine. White grapes and lemon are the perfect compliment to the grassy finish.

Light and airy with a desert like dryness. A tingle that comes just shy of tart is the only distraction, if you could even call it that, from perfect balance. This is too easy to drink.

Another winner from pFriem. Keller Biers seem to sometimes be a free for all in the lager category. I like to think of them as just a slightly more raw Pilsner. This is just that, and a wonderful summer quencher it is.

Prost!