Pelican Brewing’s Past and Former Brewers return for 25th Year
This week wraps up the fourth and final beer release in Pelican Brewing’s Bird Day collaboration series with past alumni brewers who contributed to the Pacific City, Oregon based brewery’s 25 year legacy. Darron Welch has been the brewmaster since day one, an ultra rarity even moreso than the quarter century of success Pelican has had. But even though Welch’s run at Pelican is hard to match, he would be the first to credit the many influential brewers who have come and gone over the years that each left an impact. The Bird Day series acknowledges the vital past in collaboration with the future and ongoing legacy of one of the country’s premiere beer brands.
Today, we catch up with Welch and the 4 past alumnus brewers about the evolution of their careers and how collaborations inform them.
“Collaboration projects give a wonderful opportunity for brewers to cross pollinate ideas in a way that is very different from normal beer and recipe design,” says Pelican’s longtime brewmaster Darron Welch, acknowledging that a good collaboration beer can be different for each participant, but for him: “I think a good collaboration beer has to showcase what each brewer brings to the project. It has to clearly show the influence from both sides.”
Welch first got to collaborations in 2012 as a way to get closer to the community. The first was a memorial beer brewed with Jamie Floyd of Ninkasi Brewing, in true form for early collaborations they combined elements of both brands flagship stouts Tsunami and Oatis and then bumped up the gravity to make it an Imperial Stout. The integration of both brewery’s stouts encapsulates the best elements of collaboration; using both partners individual skill sets and experiences to bounce off of each other and create something new and potentially educational and eye/palate opening.
“Ninkasi was right in the middle of its high growth trajectory, so it was great to brew hands-on with Jamie in our little Pacific City brewery. We both started in craft brewing at about the same time and in similarly sized brewpubs,” recalls Welch.
The same year, Welch made a Baltic Porter with Ben Love and Van Havig of Gigantic Brewing using Weihenstephan 34/70 yeast. Gigantic Brewing co-founder Ben Love was a former Pelican brewer and one of this years Bird Day collab partners, and Havig a fellow long-time industry veteran formerly of Rock Bottom Brewery.
“Ben and Van brought the yeast down in a half barrel keg, and while we were running off and setting up the fermenter, we took turns rolling the keg back and forth across the brewery floor,” recalls Welch. “In typical Van fashion, he opined that we were creating a new training technique for the Timbers. For some reason that sticks in my head as a memory from that brew day.”
For Pelican Brewing, the collaboration beers are an opportunity to bring in brewers known for specific brands or styles and tap into their expertise for fun and surprising results. It’s also a proven winner for the fans, who are just as curious about the interesting combinations as the brewers themselves. But selecting the 4 brewers to collaborate with on the 2021 Bird Day series was especially challenging says Welch. “There have been so many outstanding brewers who have worked at Pelican over the years. There were so many great alums who were not part of this series, it makes me think that in a year or two, we should do another similar series to bring more Pelican alumni back!
Ben Love (left) and Darron Welch (right) blending their Bird Day Vol. II collaboration
Ben Love brewed at Pelican from 2004-2007. “When I started it was just Darron and I brewing at Pelican,” remembers Love. At the time Pelican was only making about 1K barrels of beer a year on the old 15bbl pub brewhouse in Pacific City, by the time Love left to join Hopworks Urban Brewery in Portland, they were up to 4 people working in the brewing operations.
“Pelican was my first full time brewing job. I learned the skills and quality practices that built the foundation for my brewing career,” says Love. Everyone takes something away from their time at Pelican Brewing and Ben Love is one of the rare few that have had a chance to come back for collaboration beers twice.
“Brewers (and breweries) have there own dogmas when it comes to making beer. So collaborations are a great way to kick your own personal ideas to the curb and let someone else influence your creation process. Expand your knowledge. Plus its great to get some time to hang out and get to know people better.”
Returning to Pelican for the 25th Anniversary offered an opportunity for Ben Love to inject one of his other favorite beverages into the mix: a cocktail-inspired beer. During the COVID lockdown of mid 2020 his go-to favorite source of comfort was a mezcal with soda and citrus, so it was an obvious choice to try to turn into a beer just as things were beginning to start to get back to a soft new normal.
Bird-Day Volume II, started with a golden ale made extra bright and zesty with the pithy addition of tangerines. They then placed it into three different kinds of mezcal barrels to age for three months where it picked up a slight smokiness, fruity smooth agave and vanilla-like toasted oat notes. The finished project released in May ahead of warmer weather and a brighter future.
“Pacific City is my favorite place on the Oregon Coast, and being able to have a pint on the back deck of the brewery watching the sunset on summer night is just unbeatable.”
Jason Schoneman (right) and Darron Welch collaborate on Bird Day Volume 3
Jason Schoneman brewed at Pelican from 2005-2009, back when the brewery was still a single location brewpub with only minimal packaging and distribution. ”All of the fermentation capacity we had at the Pacific City location could fit in one fermenter at the Tillamook facility,” he says. Schoneman and his wife Hannah moved back to his hometown in Minnesota in 2009, and together they opened Steel Toe Brewing in 2011 and have operated it for the past 10 years.
“Working for Darron at the Pelican had a tremendous impact on me and my life going forward. It was an incredible experience working with and for people who truly cared about me and my success and were willing to share their knowledge while at the same time had high expectations. Darron is a great mentor and his high standards of excellence I hold today.”
It had been atleast 5 years since Schoneman had been back to the Oregon Coast when he returned to brew his 25th anniversary collaboration last summer. “Some things had changed some have stayed the same,” he says. “Cans of Pelican Beer = awesome. When I was working bombers and growlers were the options.” And even though the beach has eroded substantially since his time in Pacific City, the breweries massive growth in the ensuing years more than matched it. “Overall, the scale and number of locations is different, but I think the beer is a good as ever.”
For Schoneman’s part, he believes a good collaboration takes the best of both breweries and combines them into one. “Collaborations are a great place to experiment and maybe push the boundaries of what either brewery is doing on their own. They also may give some exposure in the market to a lesser-known brewery which can definitely help them out.”
For Bird Day Vol. III he and brewmaster Darron Welch decided not to attempt to emulate something that had been done before, but to try creating something new that they call a “Hopwine.” The goal was to marry the strength of a barleywine with a more wine-like tannic structure and a fruity hop character. The end result being a tactile drinker that was lighter in body and somehow slightly refreshing with a dry finish, while having as bold an alcohol presence and an aromatics of white grape, cantaloupe, and pears in a bright and distinguished beer.
“It was a pleasure to brew on a Pelican system again and with one of the best brewers in the world. Darron continues his success by investing in good equipment, processes and most importantly I think, people,” says Schoneman.
Darron Welch (left) and Whitney Burnside (right) collaborate on Bird Day Volume 1
Whitney Burnside brewed at Pelican Brewing in Pacific City from 2012-2015 before launching 10 Barrel Brewing’s PDX brewpub as it’s head brewer. Burnside had already worked as a brewer at Upright Brewing and Elysian before accepting the Pelican Brewing position, but it was still a formative and learning experience that has shaped her career since. “It wasn't until I started working with Darron and the rest of the Pelican "flock" that I really began to develop and hone my brewing skills,” she says. That experience and skill set was what led Whitney to become head R & D brewer of the Pacific City brewpub and win her first Great American Beer Festival medal for a beer called "Poire", a Belgian Golden Strong Aged in Chardonnay barrels with pears.
Things were different then, Pelican was still a single location brewpub but was beginning to make moves to become the regional powerhouse it now is. “Working at coast the years that I did was so memorable for me because it was at a time where Pelican was at its peak production (and planning it's Tillamook expansion), I was fortunate enough to work with some amazingly talented brewers while learning so much in the process.”
Burnside and Welch settled on an imperial porter with passionfruit and cacao nibs for the very first Bird Day collaboration Volume 1. Inspired by her time baking pastries and love of food, Burnside wanted to marry a sultry smooth Porter with a creamy tropical passionfruit nuance that deliciously plays off of the chocolate. The result checked all those boxes and had a warm finish from it’s 8.5% ABV reminiscent of a boozy ice cream shake and set a standard for the rest of the Bird Day series.
“Having the opportunity to brew with Darron again was just as fun as the old days (minus the Devo playing loudly and with the addition of face masks)” says Burnside. Though the process brewing on the Tillamook facility’s automated 30bbl brewhouse was much different from her days at the 15bbl Pacific City brewery which was as manual as it got.
”Brewing this Bird Day Anniversary beer was hands down the most meaningful collaboration I've been a part of. Not only did Darron and I get to combine our own skills to create a unique (and extremely delicious) beer together, but to be one of the four Pelican alumni brewers to come back to the coast is the best part.”
Hutch Kugeman (left) and Darron Welch (right) collaborate on Bird Day Vol. IV Dark Ale with Ancho Chiles
Hutch Kugeman brewed at Pelican for a brief period in the summer and fall of 2002, he is now the head brewer for the Culinary Institute of America in New York. “Working at the Pelican was my first job in the brewing industry and working with Darron (and the Assistant Brewer at the time, Travis Zeilstra) ingrained in me the importance of attention to detail and doing things the right way. Although my time at the Pelican was brief I feel like it set me on a course to a successful brewing career of my own.” Hutch now teaches culinary students the art of beer and how to create culinary experiences that complement the craft beer world.
Kugeman had not been back to Pelican Brewing since his stint brewing there nearly 20 years ago! “Obviously there are some huge changes…But in many ways things haven’t changed, Darron remains committed to producing high quality, great tasting beer albeit it on a much larger scale.”
For their collaboration — the final in the Bird Day Series: Volume IV — Welch and Kugeman worked backwards.
“In any collaboration you really want both parties to bring something to the table, learn from each other, and create a new beer that reflects the strengths of both breweries. Given my position at the Culinary Institute of America we wanted to put a culinary spin on our collaboration,” says Kugeman. That meant starting off with certain flavors in mind, and then building a beer around them that would optimally show them off.
Pelican Bird Day Volume IV - Dark Ale with Ancho Chiles
“I always like to work with the idea of 3 flavors that can be blended together harmoniously. In this case we wanted to feature the earthy-raisin character of ancho chilies, the fruitiness of ale yeast fermentation, and the toasted caramel/raisin from the malt,” he says. The seasonal dark beer was brewed on the Tillamook facility’s 30bbl brewhouse with Pelican sourcing the materials and testing out the specialty ingredients. The final product is an integration of earthy spiciness into a rich malty and nutty base beer with fruity and caramel esters that leaves with a warming finish.
“It was really fun to team up with Darron after all of these years. I have an enormous amount of respect for him personally and for his brewing acumen. Working with Darron & Travis was one of the highlights of my career and it was refreshing to remember my time there when I was wide-eyed and just beginning to learn about craft beer and brewing.”
Darron Welch has brewed at Pelican Brewing from 1996 - present, the founding brewmaster who has been a prolific award winner since 1998. Often considered the master and a mentor for many, Welch gets a little sentimental about all the great brewers who have contributed to the company’s success. “Most of the brewers who have worked at Pelican over the years have left a lasting impact. Some of those impacts are easier to recall or get specific about than others, but all have left a mark. “
“An important thing I’ve learned in my career is to continue to work at being open-minded, and a better listener. I have a lot of very specific experience, but being open to the perspectives and experiences that others bring is equally important. Humility and being willing/ready to learn is really important for long term success, because no matter how much you know, there is a lot more that you don’t know. At least for me anyway. Those new opinions and perspectives are what keeps things fresh, exciting and relevant.”
Catch up with the latest collab BIRD DAY IV available in a collectors box for shipping here.