PELICAN PUB’S “INDIA PELICAN ALE”

I think it was a year ago that PELICAN PUB & BREWERY took a whole boatload of honors at the Great American Beer Festival, bringing pride and honor to the small town of Pacific City, Oregon. Now I’ve actually spend some quality time in Pacific City, in 1999 I believe it was, and somehow I missed the brewery (which was open) during our trip down the west coast. We got to ROGUE in Newport City, NORTH COAST in Fort Bragg, CA and ANDERSON VALLEY in Boonville, CA, but PELICAN was not yet on our beerdar. As I understand it, though, these guys are starting to explode a bit based on their outstanding ales – and are even putting on a beer dinner next month in San Francisco on January 18th. Be that as it may, I got my first wind of ‘em just a couple of weeks ago, when I opened up a big bottle of INDIA PELICAN ALE and let it flow. Man, what an excellent IPA. Light, refreshing, and yet every bit as robust as your typical west coaster. The taste was balanced to near-perfection, with both a grassy chewiness and a citrus burst to it that was more than welcome. Consensus among the two of us who were drinking it that contra to many IPAs, this is one you could have over and over again in a big pint glass at a bar, without feeling too tongue-tied or worked over afterward. Drunk, maybe. Satisfied, for sure. Best IPA in weeks! 8.5/10!