Public Coast Brewing out of Cannon Beach, Oregon, introduced new beers to its canned lineup this summer, including the addition of a hard seltzer. The brewery sent me two packages of cans, featuring some of the new products and some I’ve had before. Since we haven’t traveled this year to speak of, it was nice to sample through this lineup (otherwise unavailable in Central Oregon), and I’ve got review notes on several.

I’ll note the Blueberry Hard Seltzer made it into my print article on seltzers back in August, but I’ll include my full review notes on this post as well (the article mention was brief).

I’ll note also, I reviewed StackStock Candy Cap Stout at the beginning of this year already, and I’ve covered ’67 Blonde Ale in this post. It’s a nice beer, easy drinking and clean with a nice hop presence. So I don’t have notes for those two here.

Coastal Haze Hazy IPA

This is the requisite hazy IPA that every brewery is apparently required to have these days. Coastal Haze is 7.2% ABV and the brewery’s description reads:

A great day on the Oregon coast sometimes starts off with a layer of haze. You could call it our “thing.” Okay, you could also call it “Cannon Beach fog.” The point is that it’s our signature, our jam, our sweet spot. As is our Coastal Haze IPA. Made with four kinds of hops, this IPA salutes those misty no-visibility beach walks that leave us damp and disoriented, but surprisingly happy: rain pants are the new sexy and we are winning it.

An oddity I noticed on the can: “Crafted at the Coast, Brewed in Eugene, Ore.” I was (still am) unaware of whether Public Coast was contracting with any other breweries, so as speculation only, I’d guess they possibly contracted with either Ninkasi or Oakshire for brewing this beer. The “Born On” date was indistinct but might have read “01/02/20” and since I drank it on August 23, the possible age of it was on my mind.

Appearance: Hazy, orange POG juice look. Nice creamy white head.

Smell: Hops are there, though not terribly fragrant and not overly fruity or juicy. Green herbs, a touch of allium, wild greens stems.

Taste: Decently bitter with a hop spiciness that’s more “burn” than freshly juicy. Herbal note that goes toward bitter tea, and earthy. A bit wheaty. Prickly hop burn bitterness lingers into the back.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with a lingering hop bitterness and also goes a bit dry into the finish.

Overall: Doesn’t taste “old” as regards to oxidation or anything, but it’s apparent any hazy or juicy hop character that might have otherwise been present had fallen off.

Blueberry Wheat Ale

This was a summer seasonal in the Farm Stand Series, named for the farm Public Coast bought last year. Both Blueberry offerings this year were made with farm-grown berries. The description for Blueberry Wheat (pulled from Untappd) reads:

Ok, ok, we’ll say it: we bought the farm! Public Coast Farm combines our love of all things beermaking AND growing things like blueberries and hops. We call it “farmentation.” Actually, no, we will never call it that. Apologies. How ‘bout this wheat beer, though! Fun Fact: Unattended farm stands are a giant social experiment in the goodness of humans. The produce is there; the money jar is there; you’re there. We believe in you! Awww, you even left a tip!

This beer was 5.4% ABV, and was packaged on June 23; I drank it on August 23.

Appearance: Brownish-purple color, muddy appearance, fluffy head with a light pink tinge.

Smell: Fresh blueberries, sweet in a blueberry syrup or jam way. Light earthiness of fruit skins. Really good berry notes throughout, and is the dominant aroma character.

Taste: There’s a lightly tart berry character that’s dry and crisp, well attenuated (sugars fermented out). Result is lightly tannic and kind of compote-like. Good essence of fruit here, with a mellow malt base that’s mostly in the background. Not sweet and a touch earthy.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied and a touch muddled, though fairly well attenuated, dry.

Overall: Nice authentic expression of blueberries, though not sweet like some people might like.

NW Honey Red Ale

I ended up with two cans of this, one in each package the brewery sent out. The cans were packaged on June 18, and I drank the first one on August 5, then took my notes on the second one on October 22. It’s a pretty straightforward beer, and also farm-sourced:

Our brewer Will described this as “a light amber ale” rounded with the notes of our very own Public Coast Farm wildflower honey.

The can indicates that it’s 5.4% ABV with 39.8 IBUs.

Appearance: Deep brown-red color, with decent clarity apparent when held to the light. Light tan head is rocky and lacy.

Smell: Grassy hop, wheat note with a touch of nutty roast, grainy. Mellow with some toasty malt depth.

Taste: Grainy, with some wheat chaff and nut shells, and some astringency that draws from that. Delicate floral honey notes with a light kiss of roasted malt. Dry, probably from the honey.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with decent maltiness but a light astringency leading into a dry finish.

Overall: Decent amber overall though I do prefer more maltiness in my ambers. Nothing flashy here, but the honey does impart some nice aromatics.

Blueberry Hard Seltzer

Breweries are dabbling in hard seltzer these days, so making one with fresh blueberries made sense. Here’s what had been written about this one when it was released:

Public Coast Brewing Co. has recently added a Blueberry Hard Seltzer to its Farm Stand Series. Fermented with locally grown Public Coast Farm blueberries and unrefined cane sugar, this 4.5 percent ABV hard seltzer is crisp, light and naturally gluten-free.

Note about this review: Public Coast sent me two cans in two separate packages, and these notes are from the first can. The first can didn’t impress, there was a yeasty, kombucha-like (almost the “moldiness” that kombucha can have) character which was off-putting. The second can—not at all, it was crisp and clean, more in line with what I read of other people’s reviews.

Appearance: Purple-pink and I didn’t expect that, based on how most other hard seltzers are clear. Fizzy carbonation like soda pop.

Smell: Berry aroma, sweet and jammy, a hint of tartness. Cotton candy/sugary. Kool Aid.

Taste: Mineral water with a touch of fruit and an earthy, yeasty character that reminds me a bit of kombucha. Otherwise, fizzy and bland-ish (light) with fruit juice notes.

Mouthfeel: Fizzy, well-carbonated, light body.

Overall: As I noted above, this first can must have been an anomaly. The true overall experience was a pleasantly berry-forward, lightly sweet seltzer that was crisp and clean in the finish.

For completeness, here’s a picture I took of that second can (the better one); part of the photos I took for my article on seltzers:

Not that there were any bad beers here, but the best of these, I think, was the Blueberry Wheat Ale. It captured the promise of the name/style quite well and presented a really good berry character without getting cloying. It will be one to watch out for next summer.