Pelican Pub & Brewery – Pacific City, OR

After a week of beautiful weather in Portland last week, we decided to head out to Pacific City on Saturday afternoon to hang out on the beach and pay a visit to Pelican Pub & Brewery.  With 60 degrees and plenty of sunshine, we couldn't have asked for a better day to make the 90 mile trip from Portland to the cool little beach town.  I wish I could have stayed in Pacific City for the rest of the weekend. 

The town of Pacific City is beautiful, and the Pelican Pub & Brewery is located on some prime waterfront property with a gorgeous view from the restaurant and back deck.  When we stopped in, we were met with a bunch of people waiting outside for a table and we were told that we could expect to wait an hour to be seated.  Lucky for us, we hit the bar for a beer while we waited and scored a couple bar stools in the time it took the bartender to pour us a couple Imperial pints (which are offered to anyone ordering a pint for an upcharge of 50 cents).  We were looking for some refreshing beers, so we went with the Kiwanda Cream Ale and Paddler's Pale ale, one of the several seasonals on tap this weekend.

Kiwanda Cream Ale

Kiwanda Cream Ale is one of Pelican's flagship brews.  While not a style we'd typically order, it was an appropriate beer to order - especially after Draft Magazine claiming that "there's not a more refreshing beer in America today."  The golden beer is refreshing and is a good choice for for a really mild beer that Pelican describes as "pale gold with a fruity, floral hop aroma. A sweet malty flavor and a smooth dry finish round out this tasty, refreshing brew!"

Paddler's Pale Ale

Paddler's Pale Ale is described as "a traditional pale ale, with a medium copper color and a balanced character of floral hops and rounded malts. The floral hops have a hint of citrus while the malt flavors lean toward toasted bread, caramel, and a bit of cocoa-like roasted malt. The balanced hoppy finish is smooth with the slightest touch of malt sweetness, making Paddler's an excellent session ale."  This beer really would make for a good session beer; it's extremely mild and refreshing, and was perfect compliment to the warm weather.

After having a couple pints, we talked to the bartender about the several seasonal beers on tap.  We considered ordering a taster tray of the year-round and seasonal beers on tap when the bartender told us about the 2009 Stormwatcher's Winterfest Vertical Tasting (which I'll talk about in a follow-up post).  Instead of an entire tray, we opted for some small samples of the seasonals:

Bridal Ale

Bridal Ale is a burnt red colored fall seasonal ale.  Styled after a French Country Ale, the beer is bright with a slightly sweeter flavor, notes of caramel, toasted malt, subtle hoppiness and smooth finish.  While the fall seasonal didn't match the warm spring day, I did enjoy this one.

MacPelican's Wee Heavy

We were told that Wee Heavy is an extra concentrated version of MacPelican's Scottish Style Ale.  That's exactly what it tastes like.  Wee Heavy is a really smooth, creamy, malty, sweeter red ale that Pelican appropriately describes as "A robust beer with a dangerous, drinkable smoothness!"  The flavor is not overly robust, and offers a really drinkable solid beer.

Riptide Red Ale

There was definitely a red trend with the Bridal Ale, MacPelican's Wee Heavy and the Riptide Red; these three beers were difficult to tell apart simply looking at color alone.  The Riptide Red Ale is one of Pelican's spring seasonals and was a more appropriate choice for the day when compared to the Bridal and Wee Heavy.  This beer is malty with flavors of toasted sunflower seeds on the back end.

Raz de Rouge

Apparently we showed up on a good weekend as Pelican just put this beer on tap.  Raz de Rouge was a dramatic departure from the other seasonals on tap at Pelican.  This Belgian style ale is a medium red-brown color with a great balance of sweet and spice.  Not as fruity as I expected with a name like 'Raz', but the beer does have a subtle tartness that compliments the sweeter malt flavors.  According to Pelican, "Raz de Rouge is naturally carbonated by refermentation in the keg, and completely unfiltered.  Enjoy this unique Belgian-style beer while it lasts; only five kegs of it were produced!"  The bartender told us that this beer was an experiment, I think Pelican is on to something good with this one. 

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Overall, the seasonal beers we had at Pelican were pretty solid.  In my mind, the MacPelican's Wee Heavy, Paddler's Pale Ale and Raz de Rouge were the standouts.  If I had to pick one, I'd go with the Raz de Rouge while it's available and then move on to the Paddler's.  With winter coming to a close, it was a good weekend to check out the variety of brews that gave us a taste of fall, winter and spring. 

If you haven't been out to Pacific City, I'd recommend checking it out.  The town is beautiful and the views are amazing.  As the sun went down, we were surprised to see how many people drive out on the beach to hang out together.  It really was pretty cool.  Next time, we'll plan to make a weekend of the trip.