A World Beer Cup of cheer
Dedicated to beachside beer cuisine, the Pelican earns
the industry’s top honor
By Niki Price
Oregon Coast Today
The Pelican Pub & Brewery has a legion of local fans who consider the pub’s combination of excellent ales, fine beer cuisine and superlative scenery to be the best the world has to offer. What on earth could be better, these beer lovers proclaim, than a Doryman’s Dark Ale on the patio at the Pelican?
On April 19, the judges at the 2008 Brewers Association World Beer Cup agreed: nothing.
The international panel named Pacific City’s own Pelican Pub & Brewery the 2008 Champion Brewery in the Large Brewpub category. [See the final winners' list.] The Pelican’s head brewer, Darron Welch, was named 2008 Champion Brewer, in the same Large Brewpub field. The judges gave Welch’s Doryman’s Dark Ale a gold medal in the American-style Brown Ale category, and bestowed silver on the Kiwanda Cream Ale, which competed as a Golden or Blonde Ale. The India Pelican Ale, an American-style IPA, and the Tsunami Stout, classified as a Foreign (export) style stout, both earned bronze medals.
The World Beer Cup has been held every other year since 1996 and is presented by the Brewers Association, a not-for-profit trade group based in Boulder, Colo. This year’s winners were selected in San Diego, Calif., by a panel of 129 judges from 22 countries.
“The magnitude of this win took us all by surprise,” said the Pelican’s general manager, Ken Henson. “We thought we’d do well, because we always stand by our beer. But this is the biggest beer competition in the world, so to come away with Large Brewpub of the Year and Brewer of the Year is really something.”
“Sixty five percent of the judges were not American. To be judged by that unbiased panel, with the best breweries and beers in the world, and to have them say ‘You’re the best,’ it’s humbling and exhilarating at the same time,” Henson said.
Oregon breweries won a total of 18 awards including Champion Brewery for a Small Brewpub (for the Bend Brewing Company and its head brewer, Tonya Cornett). Welch, who led the Pelican brewing delegation and served as a judge himself, said that shows what fertile brewing country we inhabit.
“It’s remarkable that Oregon has both the champion small brewpub and large brewpub in, arguably, the whole world. If you want to talk about a Napa Valley for beer, Oregon is it,” Welch said.
He was proud to accept the Champion Brewer and Brewpub awards, of course, but said his most satisfying moment was when Doryman’s Dark won its gold medal.
“That beer holds a pretty special place for me. It’s the only beer that we produce here that started out as one of my home brews – way, way, way back when, a couple of decades ago now. And it’s done phenomenally well for us, both commercially and competitively. It was an incredible feeling to see old Dory doing well again,” Welch said.
The Pelican Pub & Brewery is only the second brewpub to be named the Brewpub of the Year at both the Great American Beer Festival (an honor it’s earned three times) and the World Beer Cup. Henson, Welch and the rest of the Pelican Pub crew will be celebrating their accomplishments, and the restaurant’s 12th birthday, at a party set for Wednesday, May 7, from 5 to 7 p.m. They’ll offer complimentary appetizers, samples of the award-winning beers, and a chance to meet the brewers, chefs, servers and managers who helped to make the pub into a world-class culinary destination.
Henson said that everyone, from the diehard supporter to the first-timer, is invited to the party.
“Come and try the winning beers, meet the guys who are the best brewers in the world, try our world-class cuisine and have a good time. We want our guests, our fans, those who have been there for us through these years, to celebrate our victory with us.”
Cuisine by the pint
The World Beer Cup medals are just the latest victory in the Pelican Pub & Brewery’s beer cuisine crusade. They’re on a mission to teach the public that well-made beer is every bit as complex, and complimentary to good food, as a fine wine. The chefs have worked to incorporate Pelican beers in marinades, reductions and batters, from breakfast (Buttermilk-Beer Pancakes) to dinner (penne pasta, chicken and vegetables simmered in Kiwanda Cream Ale, for example).
In the Wild Pacific Salmon dinner entrée, the fish is marinated in an India Pelican Ale and orange mojo, pan-seared and served with a cilantro crème, a poblano chile couscous, caramelized onion-apricot marmalade and corn tortilla straws. The suggested accompaniment is the Doryman’s Dark.
“The orange and the IPA really penetrate the salmon, but they don’t overpower it. They complement it very well,” Henson said. “You would think, then, that the beer to drink would be the IPA, too. But the Doryman’s Dark pairs with the caramelized onion really well. The apricot in the marmalade brings out that ripe tree fruit, the fruitiness of the beer that you might not notice otherwise.”
The recommended food-beer pairings are determined by a committee of brewers, chefs and servers, Welch said. They try items from the menu with standard ales and seasonal brews, and they love to discover unusual yet successful combinations. Recently, the pairings committee revisited the Pelican Pub & Brewery clam chowder, and were surprised to find that Tsunami Stout knocked the previous pairing out of the park.
“That pairing worked for everybody, even those who don’t necessarily like eating chowder, or necessarily liked drinking stout. It was remarkable,” Welch said. “We are forever looking for pairings that not only work, but have the spark of the unusual, the element of surprise, the flavors working together in ways that are not easy to predict.”
The collaboration between the brewery and the kitchen even extends to the dessert menu. In the past month, they’ve been serving an apple crisp made with MacPelican’s Wee Heavy, a strong Scotch-style ale with a massive malty flavor and a deep red color. This dessert, which has been well received by customers and staff alike, is served with an ice cream that is also made with the Wee Heavy.
“We trying help people understand that beer, especially craft brews and especially our beers, are sophisticated and complicated, and can be enjoyed with a wide variety of foods. It’s more complementary to food than wine is, in almost every circumstance. We’re on a mission to show how well they work together,” Henson said.
The Pelican Pub and Brewery, located 22 miles south of Tillamook on the Three Capes Scenic Route, is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. The oceanfront facility includes an outdoor patio and banquet room with unobstructed views of Cape Kiwanda and Haystack Rock. For more information, call 503-965-7007 or visit www.PelicanBrewery.com.
TideTables is an advertiser-sponsored feature of the Oregon Coast Today. To include your restaurant in an upcoming edition, contact Charles Helbig.
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