pFriem Family Brewers

Stopped on way back from Portland. Nice location on the river with park outside. Best view from upstairs seating area. New and shiny, but still going for the rustic look. Just had beers, no food . Service a bit slow.

A pretty new dining and taproom, at the river front park on the Columbia River. The interior is basic and works just fine. They have quality beers of many types, such as a Belgian strong ale and a rum barrel aged porter, sounds good, doesn't it?

 

Tomorrow, we’re off for the coast most certainly, yes, as the Festival of Dark Arts beckons. Did the day yesterday about town and now we’re out on a play day away from Portland driving up the river some. Went Washington Washougal but now we’re back on the Oregon side, fresh from the salmon guy tented across the street from where he used to set up unprotected from the elements in the shadow of the bridge of the gods. And up to Hood we go…

Rolled into town and landed a sweet slander spot across the street. Entered in and through to the Bear’s Den tasting room for sampler action. 20 beers on a phat piping piece on the bar with numbered block handles. Large gorge mural on the barback (There’s a bear. He’s wearing a hat. He has a keg. And a beer. I wonder what he’s drinking? You’re right, definitely a Lager, yes, obvi, I mean that’s most reasonable after all). Shirts & swag available, a triple door cooler for bottles to go, & crowlers crimped here, too. Horizontal wood plank wall with a tap list, each tap written on its own piece (beer, IBU, & ABV).

And now onward to the main room. It’s a large vaulted space with a slight chill area just inside the door for the waiting. There is a small straight wood plank topped bar, multi-hued horizontal plank base, & foot bar, with seating for 7. Barback wall fronting the cold box is done horizontal plank with 24 logo handles on stainless split 12 & 12 with a ‘PF’ logo piece in between. Glassware, cans, & crowls shelved to both sides + wines countered. Pieced wood slat boards on piping atop, each listing a beer, IBU, ABV below a ‘now pouring’ sign.

Forward & side windows curtained, horizontal wood plank & pale yellow and lime green painted walls. To the rear, well, the brewery is right fucking there. Rows of tank action. Concrete floors, and mad high ceilings with duct work & what looks like a rickety wooden train track running around above. A trio of barrel band ball lighting across the middle of the room, drop suction cup lamps above the bar & far wall seating, and a few wall mounteds, too. And a wee kid zone in the far corner for play near the far door to the outside space. Nearly a dozen tables about the room; a pair of long shareds on center, 2-seat hightops wrapping around the brewery penned, and low recs along the front windows.

What’s up them stairs there? (me, pointing) I will go on walkabout and find the out. The upstairs dining room holds 9 mix & match tables for the sitting at. Gray walls with forward windows offering sweet river views, a framed mirror, and a large piece done up with 2 dozen alternating sized crates set tightly together horizontally & vertically mounted on the far wall mounted with books, bottles, flowers, jars, and pieces at random. Wide wood plank floors, rafters above, with duct work, cool ball candle chandeliers, & track spots. It’s a chill little room.

And the aforementioned outside space under a wood overhang. 8 rectangular wood tables around the perimeter on exterior wraparound benchings & stainless steel chairs on the inside, plus a black rock fire pit on center with a dozen seats around with beer counter placement.

20 beers (Pilsner, 4.9%; Smoked Porter, 6.5%; BBA Imperial Stout, 11.5%; Vienna Lager, 5.3%; Citrus Zest IPA, 6.3%; Flanders Red, 7%; Exploratory IPA #27, 6.6%; Rum BA Porter, 9.5%; Rauchbier, 5.3%; Super Saison, 9.5%; IPA, 7.2%; Hazy IPA, 7.9%; Triple IPA, 10.5%; Mosaic Single Hop Pale Ale, 6.3%; Pastry Stout, 9.5%; Scotch BA Imperial Brown, 10.5%; Belgian Strong Dark, 10%; Belgian Strong Blonde, 7.5%; Traditional Saison, 6.2%; Druif Blanc, Wild Ale, 7.3%).

Pilsner, Smoked Porter, Vienna Lager, Citrus Zest IPA, Mosaic Single Hop Pale Ale, Traditional Saison on the sampler, please. Of course, the stupidface smoked porter selfishly kicked so I subbed in Rauchbier. Pilsner & Vienna Lager were the absolute WINS, and the Citrus Zest IPA was really tasty, too. “A touch of phenol on smoked and even Belgian styles”, says Ben. Interesting.

Great house, very cool scene, excellent beers. A lot of bluegrass being played, including, strangely enough, Pink Floyd covers. Very family & dog friendly. I dig it.

Trendy brewery/eatery down by the river. Contemporary mixed use building with a walk up window for to go sales. Restuarant taproom is on the left end of the building with entry by way of the patio. Large high ceilinged taproom set up from socially distanced table service. Covered patio had a half dozen tables and a propane firepit. 19 varied beers on tap, I had the Big IPA and the Rye Whiskey Imperial Brown, both were excellent. I also had the Czech Pork, a sauerkraut based dish, that was very tasty. Staff was very attentive. A really enjoyable meal with a few excellent brews.

 

far from portland with vertainly the quality and commitment of a portland place.

 

Visited here in late May and early June 2019

Located right across from the Hood River city Park on the banks of the Columbia River, there are wonderful views for miles. Inside, the two-story dining area gets plenty busy. The staff were knowledgeable and friendly. On my first visit, I went to the bar and had a pint, which I took upstairs to the dining area, which wasn't in use at the time. The next visit, I went to The Bear's Den, which is right next to the tap room. Here you can more-easily get a pint to drink right there or outside on the patio. You can also get growlers filled, plus there is a cooler with bottled and canned beers to go. I took advantage of all three. I didn't have any food so I'm just rating it 4. It certainly looked and smelled good.

The beers by the way are excellent.

Very pleasant modern facility with seating indoors and out. Family oriented with play area for children. Staff were very pleasant and eager to please.

Stopped in on a Thursday afternoon, I got a pint, the gf got a flight, and we split an order of bacon gravy fries (delicious!). Cool modern feel to their location, felt slightly upscale, but still casual. We sat inside at the bar, but chilling on the patio looked like it would be awesome. There was a little bit of everything style wise available to try on the board and from the tastes I got it was solid. Staff was friendly and took great care of us. I would definitely love to go back.

 

Stopped by for a beer and some dinner. Everyone enjoyed their meals, ranging from a burger to mac 'n' cheese with a simple appetizer of house-pickled vegetables. The place doesn't seem too big, considering the wait list time despite there not being many people sitting around waiting. There was an upstairs, but I am not sure what is there to add to the seating of maybe 10-15 tables inside and a 12-person (or so) bar.

I can see having to wait for so long (over an hour easily) can be off-putting for vibe (and does make me hesitant to stop back by unless I was prepared for that wait), but once seated, it was a nice brewpub on a brewery site atmosphere. The staff behind the bar (where we sat) was very friendly, helping us with a few flights and the line of people grabbing beers to wait with a cheery attitude.

The brewery offered very well made versions of a variety of styles on its 15-20 taps. There were a handful of IPAs, a few different lagers, a few sours, and a bunch of darker, higher-ABV beers, including quite a few barrel-aged options. I am not sure the barrel-aged stout/belgian ales is typical, but that third of the tap list may be a rotating seasonal set of brews. There were a few IPAs and sours I could bypass, but almost everything else was very enjoyable.

So, in the right situation or at the right time of day, I wouldn't hesitate to go back. I might want to consider a "side project" for 30-50 minutes just in case.

 

 

 

Located on the waterfront. Plentiful parking, but you might have to hike a bit or pay on a busy day. Modern building, brewery tanks abut the dining area with just a short railing between. The beer is great, 12-16 taps plus a few bottles. Staff is friendly and efficient, the bartender in the dining room can give suggestions, but the adjacent tasting room / store is less bustling Nd the staff have deep knowledge.

Food is very good, from what we had and the rest loked good going. Much is house-made and very well done. The bratwurst is made there and they ferment their own sauerkraut!

 

 

With a day off from work due to president's day holiday, I figured it would be fun to make the 45 to 50 minute drive over to Hood River and pFriem from PDX.

Located a couple of minutes off the interstate in a small industrial area along the river, the taproom looks like a smallish affair, taking up a small corner of the brewery complex. When you go inside, it's actually a bit larger than it looks from the outside, with outside seating (thankfully, with a fire pit to help chase the chill of the February afternoon), and modest size dining area inside, and then a small bar in the back holding roughly 10 or 12 seats I think (which is where I perched). As you're sitting at the bar, there's a small room of to the right (the bear den), where one can buy bottles out of cold box and sample a variety of different beers on tap). I also saw several of the waitresses carrying trays of beers upstairs, though I'm not if the area there was open to the public, reserved for private parties, or just an area housing staff and the like. The taproom otherwise has high ceilings and is well lit, and was a very comfortable spot to hang with a beer or three on Monday afternoon.

In terms of the beers, I get the impression the number of beers on tap fluctuates, depending upon what's currently being brewed at the brewery. On this day I think there were between 15 and 20 different beers on tap, running the gamut from a wit, pils and raunchbier, to a variety of BA sours, porters and strong ales. As for quality, I'm a fan of pFriem beers, and they've always impressed me with the ability to make a wide range of styles with consistently high quality. The raunchbier I had was excellent, and the pils made here is one of the better one's made in the NW I think. The mosaic single pale is one of the better pale ales on the market (IMHO), and I think the BA lambics they make are generally quite good (even though this isn't a style I particularly enjoy). On this day they had several BA strong ales on tap, as well as a BA porter. The sherry flavored Belgian trippel was intriguing, with the sherry flavor blending better than I would have expected with the base beer. The whiskey barrel aged strong dark Belgian ale was flat out incredible, and the whiskey flavor blending incredibly well with base beer. One of the things I had been looking forward to was the rum BA porter, and so I was chagrinned to hear that the keg had just blown a few minutes before my arrival. They still had bottles of the beer available, and as I really wanted to sample the beer, I decided I'd buy a bottle so I could have a glass, then share the rest of the contents with the other patrons at the bar (as I really didn't want to consume an entire bottle of BA porter before driving back to PDX). Upon hearing that I had driven out to the brewery primarily just to try the BA porter, the bartender comped the bottle I bought for me and the rest of the bar, and then gave me another complimentary bottle to go. OK, over the years I've encountered all kinds of generous bar owners, brewers and bartenders, but even so, I was very impressed by the level of generosity displayed by the bartender at pFreim. I should add that service is generally very good here overall, with drinks coming quickly and the bar staff very knowledgeable and helpful. I would add that in addition to beer on tap, you can also open anything from the coldbox to enjoy at the bar. Prices on the menu are actually the "on premise" price, with a $2 discount on anything you take to go. They also fills growlers here, though I don't believe they have a crowler machine.

Didn't try the food here, though everything I saw looked pretty good, and I'm told that the quality of the food made here is pretty good (was very tempted to try the poutine).

What more can I say? This place is outstanding and I just wish it was a bit closer to my home in PDX. In any event, this place is highly recommended for anyone who is visiting the hood river area.

 

I can't decide if this place is a restaurant inside of a brewery, or a brewery inside of a restaurant. It is warm and damp and smells like a brewery. The bright tanks are clearly visible. But the seating and service is restaurant-like. We arrived at 3 in the afternoon to taste, and theoretically buy beer. But we were greeted with a 'Please Wait to be Seated' sign. When we said we were there for beer (we had lunch earlier), we were told to order at the bar and we could drink the beer outside. Hmmm. Not sure how that works in the winter months. I filled out a little card indicating what I wanted in a flight, and waited 5 minutes for it to be pushed over the bar. As for the beer, they bill themselves as a Belgian style brewery, but they seem to be all over the map. West coast pale ale and IPA were OK. They had a Mexican lager, and the Saison and Farmhouse ales seemed to be tricked up with things like mango and kumquat. It doesn't seem like they know what they are or what they want to be. The place is located in an area near the river that seems to be in a state of vitalization. New construction, trendy establishments, a riverfront park, wind surfing and kite sports. But it is also located adjacent to a waste water treatment facility. So while you are outside tasting their beers you might get a whiff of something else. From the beer reviews it appears they bottle a lot of beer and ship it away, Portland, Seattle etc. rendering the brewery/restaurant and sewage treatment plant irrelevant. My advice when in Hood River would be head up the hill, away from the river, and enjoy one of the other breweries in town.

Aug, 20, 2017 with the wife
Went here after a pint at Double Mountian because it opened at 11 and Pfriem 1130. It was before noon when we showed up and the place was packed. Luckily they have a sweet waiting room upstairs where you can have a pint waiting for a table to open up, we never got a table but grabbed a bunch of take away brews. I'm not sure if the crowds were eclipse related or if this place really is this busy before noon, I'll be going back to hood river one day to find out.....

 

Great setting. It's across the street from a park that's on the shores of the Columbia River. Inside, you get to dine right next to the tanks. Food, nature, beer... All the good things blending together.

The service was pretty good for me on a Wednesday afternoon. Plenty of servers taking care of everybody, and the food came out quickly. And I wanted to order about half the menu. However... Can somebody please tell me why duck sandwiches are not more common? The meat is so rich, and with the right bread and toppings, it can't be bettered. (And the chowder was really good.) Anyways, it's probably the best food and food selection I've run across at a brewpub, although my experiences are relatively limited, compared to some folks.

 

 

We always bring visitors here- great food, great beer, great view. Perfect hood river brewery

 

 

everyone we talked to was like, oh man, if you are going to portland, rent a car and go to hood river so you can drink beer at pfriem! it seems like the people who know are pretty stoked on these guys, and they have absolutely every reason to be. right on the river, the place offers some cool views and a bustling brewery atmosphere. the line for beer was very long, but we got lucky with some seats at the bar. they have an open floor plan, with the tanks right there to cast shadows on the bar, some outside seating, and even more space upstairs. the beer here was amazing, of all the breweries we visited on our oregon trip, i think the beer here was the best, not that my single favorite came from here, but across the board, all the beer was amazing, no slouches at all, it was just sensational. the peach lambic was mental, and the regular saison showcasing the sorachi ace hop was another favorite, but the kriek was right on, and really they all were. from top to bottom the beer was sick. too busy to be real chatty with the bartenders, but they seemed nice enough, tough to decipher stress from pretension in a setting like that, so ill keep it all positive until next time. i liked the food a lot too, the meatballs were dynamite. awesome space and even better beer. i cant wait to visit here again! not to be missed, the locals were right!

edit: many years and many visits later, this place still hits every time. they have it figured out a little better now it seems, a neat retail side with beer on tap now for when you have a wait, a great patio with a fireplace, and the beers speak for themselves, just constant experimentation and cycling through new stuff, all of it excellent. definitely one of the premier breweries in the northwest, wonderful food, and a must stop if you are in the hood river area, i look forward to it every time!

Nice place just north of the main downtown area. It was busy during the mid-afternoon that my wife & I visited, to the extent that there was a 30-minute wait for a table. The bar area is small but we liked that they keep a corner of it free so you can walk up and order a beer. We wish more places had that. We only had one beer apiece but they were both excellent. We sat upstairs on a couple chairs. While the food menu looked good, we opted instead to leave and head for our next destination. Had we gotten a table, we probably would have stayed longer.

pFriem's space is big, sparkling clean, airy, and close to the water. You can't exactly see the Columbia from the taproom, but it's right across the way. There's a patio for outside seating. The Kid Nook for the munchkins is a nice touch. I didn't see any kids there but it definitely puts this brewery at the top end of the kid friendly scale. No TVs, this is not a sports bar. The music was a bit loud.

The food was good to excellent. We had a spring Columbia River king salmon (primo stuff, for those of you who aren't into salmon), as well as a brat plate, and a baby kale salad. Prices were quite reasonable for the quality of the food.

The beer of course is the star attraction. pFriem's lineup is nearly all Belgian styles. They have 12 taps, 6 of which are their core lineup, and 6 are rotating seasonals. Three of the 12 were saisons, and there was a Belgian Strong Dark Ale. a Belgian Blonde, two lambics, and so forth.They offer a tasting flight of 6 x 4 ouncers, $12, with an upcharge if you pick either of the lambics. It's a great selection of beers, and fine quality across the board.

Overall, I'd say this is the best combination of interesting and high quality beer, and fine food, that I've yet had from a brewery taproom.

 

 

Right by the river with an excellent park for the kiddos. Great beers, good and helpful staff. Kid friendly with a play area. *Did not try food. Cheers!