Okay, if you read my other blog where I describe our Memorial Day weekend, you'll see that I mentioned the Pelican Pub & Brewery. I've written about it before; they are located literally on the beach in Pacific City—which for my money gives them hands-down the best location of any brewery, anywhere.

More to the point, we had lunch and beers there again, after too many years, and I can finally—finally!—write a review for it! I'd been dying to go back, and I'm glad we did... I'm thinking that the Pelican has moved up my list of favorite breweries to the number one position. If not number one, then absolutely number two...

The brewery itself, right on the beach.

The restaurant is a clean, well-lit, spacious place done in dark woods and bricks, with mostly unfinished beams for the ceiling and concrete floors. Surfboards decorate the ceilings. The front lobby doubles as the souvenir shop for T-shirts, glasses (pint and shot), beer, hats, etc. Out the back you can step from their patio directly to the beach, and you have a peerless view of Haystack Rock.

So the setting is awesome. How'd the rest of the experience fare?

Excellent (nearly) across the board! I was able to taste every beer on tap: their five regulars and all four seasonals. Check out this taster tray:

Eight, count 'em, eight beers to taste...

All but their Wee Heavy were on that tray. Eight tasters for only six bucks! Nice... Here are some notes I jotted as I drank them—in order (left-right) on the tray, not as I drank them:

Kiwanda Cream Ale: Pale gold/yellow. Light, lightly hoppy, creamy. Grain... wheat?

MacPelican's Scottish Style Ale: Malty, smoky/peaty. Rich. Clear brown color. Low hops. I quite like it.

India Pelican Ale: I've reviewed this before. Like it a lot. Big Cascade hops right up front.

Doryman's Dark Ale: Dark brown. Malty, sweet, a very good brown ale.

Tsunami Stout: Black. Roasty, dark... hops are there, but overshadowed by the malt. Reminds me, oddly enough, of Papazian's Toad Spit Stout. Mild, but good.

Nestucca ESB: Bitter/hoppy. Amber. Light... watery mouthfeel.

Organic Heiferweizen: Cloudy straw-colored. Bavarian style! Delicate, coriander... there's a super-nice balance between the Bavarian style and the American (read: Widmer) styles... I like it.

Surfer's Summer Ale: Gold, clear. Crisp. A little bitter... kind of like the low-carb summer ales I've tried.

MacPelican's Wee Heavy: (Not pictured, or on the taster tray.) Rich, dark, strong. Good... very malty and low hops... quite good, like a barley wine. (It's a double-strong Scottish Ale.)

Had I had time for a full pint, I would have gone with the Scottish Style Ale. Although all were good.

The food was excellent. I had the Pelican Po'Boy, snapper on a hoagie. My wife had the Piet's Fried Chicken Sandwich, and also pronounced it good. The French fries were awesome. And the peanut butter pie for dessert—great.

The only thing we had a problem with was the service, a little bit... our waitress started out well, but she didn't come back for awhile, the last half of the meal... and our waters were never refilled. Not a dealbreaker, but noticeable. On the other hand, they were quite busy and we were there during the lunch rush, it seemed.

All in all, an excellent experience and it's totally worth the trip to Pacific City, if you're on the coast. And bring a kite! The kids and I went down to the beach afterwards and flew ours, which is a great end to a good lunch and great beers.

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I'll be offline for the Memorial Day weekend—through Tuesday, actually. Hopefully everyone has a safe and fun holiday weekend!

The other beer I had from Ballast Point Brewing was their Big Eye IPA, a 6% alcohol ale with an interesting hop profile. It's not an extreme hop-bomb India pale ale that seems to be all the rage these days, but for that, it's still a pretty good, drinkable beer. I'd like to try it on tap.

Appearance: Clear and coppery orange. A half inch of fuzzy bone-colored head coated the top; when it went down, some of the bubbles had a sudsy look.

Smell: Florally hoppy and some sort of rich fruit, not quite citrus.

Taste: Malty, that has a softer fruity character, perhaps from the hops. Nice hop body there, it lingers on the palate. It's a little mild for an IPA, but I'm liking the understated hop profile.

Mouthfeel: It's lighter than I would like for an IPA... but still has a nice body to it. A little bubbly/effervescent, and a little astringent, but overall satisfying.

On BeerAdvocate: 88 out of 100 with 100% approval. On RateBeer: 3.71 out of 5, in the 92nd percentile. A well-liked beer all around.

I had a couple of 22-ounce bombers from Ballast Point Brewing Company that I drank last week, and I'm blogging my notes on the first this evening: Calico Amber Ale. It's a decent beer, an American amber style that weighs in at 5% alcohol by volume... the American amber designation is interesting because Ballast Point's website spends a paragraph describing the English bitter style for this beer. So it's inspired by a bitter but hopped with American hops? Seems like the pedigree is a bit confused...

At any rate, it's a drinkable beer, if a little hoppy for the style. My notes...

Appearance: Dark amber in color, brown-tinged. It's relatively clear in the pint glass. Pours a nice fluffy cappuccino colored head.

Smell: Hops; strong American hops, though not citrusy like I'd expect. It's a relatively neutral aroma, otherwise.

Taste: Hoppy and a little astringent is what I noticed first... malt is on the dry side rather than the sweet side. I think it's a little too hoppy for the American amber category, but there's a nice malt interaction otherwise.

Mouthfeel: Perfect for the style—thickly medium; hefty but not chewy. There's still the matter of the astringency though.

On BeerAdvocate: 87 out of 100, and a respectable 100% approval. On RateBeer: 3.62 out of 5, in the 88th percentile. I notice that several of the BeerAdvocate reviews mention the high hoppiness also, so I know I'm not totally out of whack.

Don't get me wrong, I like hops. I've been seeking out hoppy beers lately. But they need to be appropriate to the style. Overall, I think it's a little overhopped, but still a worthwhile beer.

Quick Thirsty Thursday report: today it was summer-themed beers.

First up was Sierra Nevada's Summerfest. Not bad, a hoppy, wheaty pilsner-style lager. Very crisp.

Next, Pyramid's Curve Ball. I liked this better than the Summerfest. It's a Kölsch style ale, and they've flavored it with some not-quite-definable herb.

Third up was Weinhard's Summer Wheat. I know, you're thinking, "Weinhard's? That's too mainstream, it doesn't fit with an upscale tasting!" But you know what? It's actually pretty good! It's a wheat ale spiced with coriander and orange peel, and it's a decent brew. I was tempted to pick up a case for only $10.

Finally, the last was Anderson Valley's Summer Solstice. Subtitled "Cerveza Crema," this is a cream ale with a spice character and a surprising fruit flavor to it—one I couldn't quite identify. My first guess was apricot, but that's not quite it... a woman tasting it suggested some type of stone fruit like that, and I tend to agree. Maybe peach, or even nectarine. Quite refreshing; I'll be buying this down the road.

This week is American Craft Beer Week. What is it?

May 15-21, 2006 is designated as a time for all legal-drinking-age Americans to explore and celebrate the flavorful beverages produced by our small, traditional and independent brewers.

By visiting breweries during American Craft Beer Week, you can earn a free pair of pint glasses, an embroidered shirt and even a free trip to the Great American Beer Festival in Colorado this September.

This chance to win prizes? Apparently you can download and print out their "Great American Beer Tour Passport" and have every brewery you visit endorse it; you get points for each brewery. Mail it in, and based on how many points you earned, you can acquire various goodies... and if you collect the most points, you win a trip to the Great American Beer Festival in September.

I figure if you live in Portland, this might be an accomplishable goal...

We took a day trip over to Eugene today, and had lunch downtown at the Steelhead Brewing Company. I actually had the foresight for once to bring a notebook and pen so I could take notes as I went! Seems like that should be a no-brainer, I know, but I learn eventually. :)

The brewery is located right on the corner of 5th and Pearl in downtown, really a prime spot. They offer some outdoor seating, but all the tables were occupied when we got there. Inside, the space is large and nice, combining an industrial look (open pipes along the ceiling, corrugated sheet metal trimming the bottom of walls in the back) with brick and dark wood. There is seating at the bar (of course), tables, booths, taller tables and stools, and even high-backed wing chairs at a few of the tables—nice. There's a red antique English phone booth in the front and fairly typical brewpub decor around.

Service was prompt. I ordered the beer sampler (five beers, four ounces each, for $5.25), my wife ordered a local white wine, and one of the kids ordered the homemade root beer (which was rather tasty). I'll cover the beer in a minute...

The food was really quite good. I had the fish tacos, my wife had the shredded barbecue pork sandwich with onion rings, the kids had pizza bread and fish and chips. Everyone agreed it was a really good lunch. Even so, we skipped dessert, though it sounded tempting: brewery brownie, mud pie or root beer float.

And, the beers. The sampler I had consisted of: Hairy Weasel Hefeweizen, Barracuda Blonde, Raging Rhino Red, Bombay Bomber IPA, and a seasonal, White Dog Pale Ale. The short version: they were decent, but nothing that really stood out to me.

The longer version: I'll just transcribe my notes (the order that I drank them).

Barracuda Blonde: Grainy, corn-y. Wheat character. Dark straw in color, and clear. A little bitter, due to the hops... it's a little distracting, actually, the bitterness offsets the crispness I'd expect here. Mouthfeel is thin, effervescent.

Hairy Weasel Hefeweizen: Cloudy, the color of a yeasty wheat ale, served with a slice of lemon. It's a Pacific Northwest style of hefeweizen, the Widmer style, though this has kind of a neutral character. Bitter? Slight yeast flavor. Okay, but not great.

White Dog: Described as an American Pale Ale—that is to say, like a regular pale ale but highly hopped. It's clear and copper colored. And hoppy! The hops are resiny and strong, but without any characteristic greenness or fruitiness or citrus character. They kind of drown out the malt bill, though what I can tell of the malt is kind of neutral, plain. The body is on the thin side of medium.

Raging Rhino Red: This is hoppy, but much less so than the White Dog. Nice deep red amber color. There's a malt bite—the black patent malt at play (giving it the red color)... it's kind of a tangy character. Easy drinking. Malty, but mild. Medium-bodied. I'd order this again.

Bombay Bomber IPA: Good; malty, hoppy. It's little thin for an IPA, but I like the overall character. Not sure of the strength behind it. But a pretty good sample of an India pale ale, one I'd order again.

So, overall: decent (though largely average) beer; excellent food; nice atmosphere (sitting outside would be nice, I think). Definitely worth a visit when you're in Eugene.

Bonus link: photos of the brewery.

Steelhead Brewing Company
199 East 5th Ave.
Eugene, OR 97401
Phone: (541) 686-2739

I got a kick out of this 1905 Budweiser newspaper ad on Flickr; charming bit of ephemera. Did you know Budweiser is "Strictly a Family Beverage"? Nice.

According to that ad, 130,388,520 bottles of Bud were consumed in 1904, with more "than three-fifths of this amount used in the homes." Is that what they mean by family beverage? Heh.

Caught this post over on SudsPundit:

If you'd like to meet your favorite beer blogger live and in person—or if you'd like to meet me—head on out to the Oregon Brewer's Festival this July. Lisa and Ken have graciously offered to host M and I, and I have just booked our flights.

It got me thinking... this may be a year that I can actually go to the Oregon BrewFest, and if so, perhaps we should have a beer blogger meetup? Or even just meet up with anyone who reads this and other beer blogs?

The Oregon BrewFest is taking place from July 27th through the 30th this year. And the list of participating breweries (and their beers) is up, too, so plan ahead. I'll post more as I know better what my plans are looking like...

Ever since I blogged about The Maharaja last month, I'd been dying to try it. Fortunately it showed up here in town at Newport Market and I was able to snag a bottle.

Wow. The Belmont blog was spot on, this is one seriously hoppy beer. And strong; here are the stats from the label: 102 IBUs, and 9.9% alcohol by volume. The style is the ever-popular Imperial IPA, and Avery Brewing is taking it to the extreme. Don't like hops? Avoid this beer.

Appearance: Poured a clear amber with two fingers of foamy slightly tan head.

Smell: Hops! Resiny green hops... they are the overwhelming aroma character here. They're spicy, piney, grassy, but not fruity or citrusy like the Cascade variety (which a lot of brewers use in this style).

Taste: Big hops! Explosive and resiny. Heat from the alcohol, the malt is creamy and rich and smooth. The hops are pitchy and piney and big and brassy and right in your face... I quite like this beer.

Mouthfeel: Very smooth and even-bodied. The hops coat the mouth like an oily resin.

On BeerAdvocate: 89 out of 100, with 97% approval. On RateBeer: 3.83 out of 5, in the 96th percentile.

I quite liked it, but then I've had a thing for super hoppy beer of late. This is a beer for people who are serious about hops—there is no middle ground here, I'm thinking. Generally though—I'd say buy it if you can find it.

Saturday is National Homebrew Day again—first Saturday in May. If anyone wants to participate, you can sign up online, and brew one of the Big Brew recipes; Poor Richard's Ale is one of the recipes this year.

Before the event
• Register your Big Brew Site
• Invite non-brewing and brewing friends and family to help brew beer
• Read this year's Big Brew recipe
• Hold a special beer dinner for friends and family you're going to brew with
• Find out if there is a Big Brew site in your area and join in on some homebrewed fun

Also, alt.portland lists a few National Homebrew Day events around, er, Portland.

Updated: Whoops! I had this in March...

Watch out for bogus beer deals: a Hong Kong tourist was charged $1251 (990 euros) for a pint of beer by an unscrupulous bar owner.

The tourist, who was traveling alone, was invited to the bar by a tout who served him a beer and then said it would cost him 990 euros. He bartered it down to 490 euros, but the bar owner ended up taking 990 euros off his credit card anyway.

"When the bill arrived I thought it was safer to pay it. I was scared something could happen to me if I didn't," the man, whose name was withdrawn, told Rome mayor's office that is investigating the crime.

Is it wrong for me to wonder what kind of beer it was? :)