pFriem Family Brewers is expanding its brewery — here’s a first look at the renderings

pFriem Family Brewers, one of the most award-winning breweries in Oregon, will be expanding its existing brewery in Hood River and will build a new facility in Cascade Locks, Oregon, 23 miles further west. Here’s a sneak peek:

Growth has been a constant for the brewery since it was founded in 2012, as evidenced by its leasing increasingly larger parts of the Halyard building on the Columbia riverfront in Hood River. Based on demand for pFriem’s beer and the forthcoming release of cans, the company is expanding the building and surrounding area to facilitate a more than three-fold production capacity expansion.

The plan

pFriem is working with the Port of Cascade Locks to construct a new secondary production and warehousing facility in Cascade Locks to make room for significant capacity expansion at the Hood River headquarters.

The two facilities will work in tandem. In Hood River, pFriem will continue to brew all of its beer and ferment and package all of its non-barrel aged beers. In Cascade Locks, the brewery will age and package all of its barrel-aged beers. Cascade Locks will also be the company’s main logistics hub and will warehouse all of its raw materials and finished beer.

Josh Pfriem, pFriem brewmaster/cofounder, said, “We are excited to announce that we have partnered with the Ports of Cascade Locks and Hood River to expand pFriem’s production footprint in the Gorge. The Columbia River Gorge has always been our home, and we have worked hard with the folks at these ports and cities to develop a long-term plan for pFriem to thrive in this beautiful area.

“The Cascade Locks project will allow us to significantly expand our barrel-aging program while consolidating our warehousing and cold storage operations in a beautiful new facility. It will also free up space in our current Hood River brewery for a new state-of-the-art brewhouse, increased fermentation capacity and a sophisticated canning line. The goal has been to increase our offerings, continue to boost quality and innovation and to create opportunities for our employees to further their careers and personal lives in the special communities that we are lucky to be a part of. We feel that we are on an exciting path to accomplish these goals throughout these two interconnected expansion projects.”

Hood River expansion

Over the next two years at its Hood River facility, pFriem will install new fermentation capacity, as well as a second larger brewhouse and a canning line. This will allow the company to brew more than 60,000 barrels in this facility. The brewery will be upgrading its infrastructure and will be placing some equipment to the south of the current building footprint to make way for the capacity increase. The Port of Hood River has been instrumental in helping pFriem create a long-term expansion strategy in this facility which is owned by the Port.

“When the Port of Hood River built the Halyard Building in 2012, the goal was to construct a LEED Silver spec building that could provide flexible, scalable space for new light industrial businesses to create jobs and foster new markets,” said Port Development Manager Anne Medenbach. “pFriem’s remarkable success has confirmed the soundness of that strategy as they have grown to be not only the sole tenant of the building but are expanding in Cascade Locks. We couldn’t be more proud to be part of their success.”

Cascade Locks construction

pFriem has been working hard to identify suitable new building sites in the Gorge for years. In the fourth quarter of 2018, pFriem signed an agreement to construct a secondary production and warehousing facility in the Port of Cascade Locks’ Business Park, on the east side of the city. Inside this building, pFriem will relocate its growing wood barrel-aged and sour beer production processes, as well as its cold and dry storage warehouses. pFriem expects this 22,000-sq-ft facility to be available for move-in by Q1 2020.

Jess Groves, Port of Cascade Locks Commission president, said, “The Port of Cascade Locks and the City of Cascade Locks are excited to be working with a premiere and award-winning family brewery that recognizes Cascade Locks as a community with enthusiasm and the ambition to grow local Gorge businesses. We look forward to a long-term partnership with pFriem Family Brewers and the opportunities the brewery brings to the community with new family wage jobs and a positive business attitude.”