pFriem Family Brewers head brewer Gavin Lord is stepping down this Spring to drive a school bus to Mexico with his wife Giselle. Since joining pFriem in 2014, Lord quickly moved up the ranks to the head brewer position and led the production team to numerous awards such as Mid-Sized Brewery of the Year at Great American Beer Festival and Large Brewery of the Year at the Oregon Beer Awards—both in 2018. Before he departs on his next grand adventure, Lord reminisced with us about his favorite pFriem beers, and what’s next for him and his family.

For the pFriem Family, the parting is bittersweet: Gavin has been an unrelenting hard worker, and has given so much of himself to pFriem and their employees over the past 7 years. His influence across everything that pFriem is known for in the beer world is unmistakable. While there is sadness that he is leaving the company, pFriem is very happy to see a lifelong friend depart well, and leave the company and team in a better place than it was then he arrived.

Before craft beer, Lord worked by day at a fine art print shop and nights at a gallery collective he co-founded in San Francisco, California’s Western Addition neighborhood. After a couple of years in business, Lord and his partners sold the gallery to the artists in residence for a 6-pack of Anchor Steam and he returned to his home state of Oregon to a pursue a career in brewing.

“Like most, I fought my way into the industry. I worked for beer for months. I cleaned and filled kegs, scrubbed the floors, worked bottling lines and mashed out a 20bbl tun with a five gallon bucket and a collection of garbage cans,” says Lord. After returning to Oregon he spend nearly two years working in different breweries helping package beer for the mobile Green Bottling. “It wasn’t an easy job, but I remember it fondly. It introduced me to many of my closest friends in the industry.”

In 2011 Lord was able to attend the UC Davis Masterbrewer’s course and immediately landed a job at Full Sail Brewing the same year. There he met Josh Pfriem and pFriem family brewers original head brewer Dan Peterson who Lord would eventually replace when the former went on to open Ferment Brewing. It was then that the seeds of his South America adventures would take root as he married Giselle in August of 2013 and traveled to Argentina and Chile for 6 months before starting at pFriem less than 24 hours after his plane landed home in March of 2014.

Last September, Lord and Giselle sold their Hood River home and purchased a short school bus that they are converting into their ideal adventure mobile. Soon they plan to drive south exploring national parks and visiting friends as they make their way down to mainland Mexico where they plan to spend the summer exploring Mexico City, Oaxaca and the Yucatán peninsula. It’s unclear if and when Lord will return to brewing or where they will set down roots again, but Oregon will always be home.

“I’m extraordinarily proud of the work we did at pFriem over the last seven years. And while it is always thrilling to have hard work recognized by friends and colleagues in the form of awards and accolades, I’m most proud of our team,” says Lord, who places the credit for pFriem Brewing’s accomplishments squarely on the brew crew. “It’s our production crew who show up, day in and day out, and actually achieve that greatness. This crew produced 30,000 bbls on a 15bbl system. 6 brews a day, 7 days a week, across a range of countless processes, hundreds of styles, dozens of yeast strains, and a complex barrel aging and fruit program. They continue to achieve this with style, a smile and an unrelenting commitment to quality. Working with this team has been the greatest accomplishment of my career.”

Lord cites the experience of brewing a huge range of styles, building one of the largest oak foeder programs in the northwest, traveling with the team, and helping to design pFriem’s new Cascade Locks production facility among his career highlights. Anyone familiar with his interests would also include the exemplary fruit Lambic-style beers and his exploration of wine grape hybrid beers among the brightest accomplishments. But what were his top 10, all-time greatest beers brewed during his pFriem tenure?

• Pilsner

• Nectarine Golden Ale

• Barrel Aged Saison I (Shawn Grover’s recipe)

• Oud Bruin

• Bretta III

• Maple BA Smoked Porter

• Druif Blanc

• Helles

• Mosaic, Citra and Nelson Single Hop Pale Ales

• Rauchbier

“I’m very grateful to Josh, Rudy and the rest of the team for entrusting me with these responsibilities. And while I’m not certain what’s next for me, I’m sure that the best days of pFriem are yet to come,” added Lord. Even with all of the advancements in craft beer in both culture and quality, there are a ton of challenges ahead and Lord has some parting wishes. “As an industry, especially in the NW, we need to do more in terms of diversity, access and inclusion. This industry generates so much enthusiasm. It’s time to share that excitement with a broader audience and invite new perspectives into our trade.”

pFriem has begun the search for a new Head Brewer to lead the brewing team. The goal is to onboard a new hire while Gavin is still there in order to ensure an orderly transition.