The Brew SiteBeer and Cheese on the Tillamook Coast
On Saturday, April 13 we attended Pelican Brewing‘s Beer + Cheese event that the brewery organized with Visit Tillamook Coast, which took place at the brewery’s Tillamook production facility. I was invited to attend with a complimentary press pass, and since I’d never been to that location, I love beer and cheese, and we love the coast, I accepted and we drove over Saturday morning, arriving just in time for the event to start at 11am.
(We took a lot of pictures, so I’ve put them into a gallery at the end of this post.)
Only in its second year, this mini-fest was a nice change of pace from the usual beer event scene I’m used to. Pelican and Visit Tillamook Coast put together a fun, low-key event with seven breweries and paired each with a creamery that was fairly local to that brewery. For instance, Block 15 Brewing of Corvallis was paired with the OSU (Oregon State University) Creamery, while Pelican was paired with Tillamook Creamery. That was a thoughtful arrangement I hadn’t been expecting.
Most of the breweries were pouring more than one beer. Heater Allen Brewing of McMinnville was pouring only one, its excellent Marzen Lager, which paired well with all three of the cheeses from its partner Briar Rose Creamery. More on the beers and cheeses in a minute.
The venue was the Pelican production brewery itself. There is also a tap room that serves up a full food menu, but this event took place around back, nestled in among wooden barrels aging various beers, with a full few of the 30-barrel brewhouse and fermenters. Breweries and creameries were staged at various booths with a decent traffic flow as you entered and worked your way towards the back, and there was a central pop-up serving food that offered things like beer pretzels and pulled pork sandwiches.
The crowd was a good size for the venue but it never really felt crowded or crushing. Rinse water stations were placed logically throughout—a detail I always appreciate—as were a number of barrel-top bar tables. The beers were served in standard can shaped taster glasses, and cheeses were typically diced and sampled via toothpick. Attendees had the option of buying cheese to take home as well, and quite a few people did.
Here’s the list of breweries and creameries:
- Pelican Brewing Company paired with Tillamook Creamery
- Werner Brewing Company paired with Nestucca Bay Creamery
- Golden Valley Brewery paired with Helvetia Creamery
- Public Coast Brewing paired with Blue Heron French Cheese Co.
- Block 15 Brewing paired with OSU Creamery
- Heater Allen Brewing paired with Briar Rose Creamery
- Beachcrest Brewing paired with River House Dressings
That last item, Beachcrest with River House Dressings, technically wasn’t a straight cheese pairing, though the River House Dressings folks were toasting up bread with melted cheese and their dressings to sample along with the beer.
Beachcrest and Werner were the new breweries present, and even though I didn’t start with their beers, I’ll talk about them here first. Beachcrest was serving two beers: Gose To The Beach (guess the style) and Trio Belgian Tripel. I thought the Gose was quite good, a just-right lip-smacking amount of tart lacto character, wheat that I could taste, and a noticeably well-balanced salt component. The Tripel was fine, a decent example of the style though I would look for a bit more hops and a bit less sweet character; otherwise no complaints.
Werner Brewing is a new brewery I hadn’t been aware of until this year, though it has been open for two years apparently. The brewery spun out of a jerky company and in our press bags we found two bags of the company’s jerky snacks. Werner was pouring three beers: Blackberry Wheat, Coastal Brown, and an IPA (presumably Trask Mountain IPA). The Wheat looked like blackberry slurry and was okay, if a bit muddled with simply too much fruit that didn’t have a berry pop like I’d want. The Coastal Brown was decent, malty with a touch of roast and a bit heavy. I didn’t try the IPA. These paired decently with the Nestucca Bay Creamery cheeses, which ranged from cheddar to Gouda to an Alpine style cheese.
Other beers I sampled, along with occasional cheese notes, in no particular order:
- Heater Allen Marzen. Relatively new to HA’s lineup, malty and easy drinking, paired quite well with Briar Rose Creamery’s Alder Smoke and Onion Fromage Blanc.
- Block 15 The Prophecies (Belgian-style Quadrupel) and Sticky Hands. Both paired really well with the cheeses from the OSU Creamery (Smoked Provolone, The Cheddar, and Cheese Curds), all of which I liked. Everyone’s had Sticky Hands, but The Prophecies was rick, thick, sticky, sweet.
- Golden Valley Brewery Brett Empress and Geist Bock. Brett Empress is something special, an oak-aged Brett sour with local heirloom Italian prunes. Geist Bock is the brewery’s malty Maibock spring seasonal lager. The Brett Empress in particular paired well with the Helvetia Creamery cheeses, which were Swiss Alpine-style.
- Public Coast Stackstock Stout. Roasty stout that I tried with the Blue Heron Brie with honey, which was prepared on a slice of sourdough baguette drizzled with honey. I can’t speak to the cheese in this case, because the bread and honey overpowered it, but those were fine with the beer.
- Pelican Ralph Hugs English Porter, Sea’N Red, and Beak Breaker. The Ralph Hugs was the special pour and quite tasty—a good porter. Pelican in all was pouring five beers paired with five cheeses from the Tillamook Creamery, though I have to admit I spent as much time just eating cubes of Tillamook cheese as trying to pair them with the beer.
My wife got a pulled pork sandwich as well, layered with coleslaw which was decent fest fare.
And we were in for a treat (or a nice bonus). Pelican’s CEO Jim Prinzing was on hand, both helping to staff the Pelican pouring station but also mingling with the crowd and helping to ensure the event was going smoothly. At one point we were admiring the brewery itself (from the side the fest) and Prinzing offered us an informal tour. Yes please!
It’s an impressive facility, with a 30-barrel brewhouse and rows of large fermenters (90 and 180 barrel capacity at the upper end), an extensive packaging operation, and room to grow. They can brew up to six batches per day (enough to fill one 180-barrel tank) and I found out that currently Beak Breaker Double IPA is the highest-volume brew in production and sales.
And in upcoming Beak Breaker news, it will be released in cans later this year as well. The 19.2-ounce “stovepipe” cans if I’m remembering correctly!
In the packaging and warehouse side of the facility I was particularly impressed with the giant banners featuring different bottles. Turns out those were formerly billboards, and Prinzing asked if they could keep the matte sheets, which they hung up. They are a cool touch.
Overall, we enjoyed this event and extend a big thanks to Pelican and Visit Tillamook Coast and Jim Prinzing for the invite. It’s one we would attend again if we’re able.
But the day didn’t end there! De Garde Brewing is also in Tillamook and pretty much across the street from Tillamook, so we had to stop in to check out the tasting room. The last time we’d visited De Garde, it was still located on the outskirts of town by the aero-industrial park so this was a nice quick stop. I ordered a snifter of The Noir Truffle, described as “a spontaneous wild ale blended from 3 years, aged in oak barrels with Oregon black truffles.” De Garde makes a fair amount of interesting beer, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to try a truffle-infused wild ale.
How was it? There was a barnyard funk in the aroma but it was the earthy truffle that was the aromatic showcase… I could smell the truffle from the glass sitting on the table. Unusual flavor, lots of forest floor, strangely appealing. Very tart up front, my first thought was “acid” but there’s a savory, funky truffle/mushroom character that’s undeniable and tempers the acidity—though it’s still pretty acidic. It was most interesting and one to try if you’re feeling adventurous.
Finally, we spent the night in Pacific City at Hart’s Camp—an Airstream Hotel & RV Park that is part of the Inn at Cape Kiwanda hospitality complex (which includes the Pelican pub). The event organizers had secured a media rate on the stay, so we found ourselves “camping” in a full featured Airstream trailer. Just like a hotel room, only smaller, RV-sized. It was definitely and interesting experience, one I hadn’t expected, and worth checking out for something different.
We finished the evening with dinner and a taster tray at the original Pelican pub, the one on the beach. Overall it was a good day.
