30-year-old Pelican Brewing looks to non-alcoholic beverages and new locations for expansion
Pelican Brewing owners Jeff Schons (left) and Mary Jones (right) with brewmaster Darron Welch (center)
Pelican Brewing is betting on craft soda and variety to boost grocery store sales, and in-person experiencing taprooms to carry the good vibes and Oregon coast centered brands draft beer into their fourth decade. The iconic Oregon Coast craft brewery that started as a brewpub in sleepy Pacific City has been one of the most award-winning breweries in the world and inspired a generation of brewers and that legacy is at the forefront as they celebrate their 30th anniversary this year.
As a fan and observer of Pelican Brewing’s legacy since 1996, it has been fascinating to watch the brand go from hard to get destination location, to widely available grocery store best-seller. Pelican’s classic Kiwanda Cream Ale (now called just Kiwanda), Pilsner, mixed packs, and the extremely popular Beak Breaker Double IPA is often the best price to quality ratio deal in the store.
Pelican husband and wife founders Mary Jones and Jeff Schons didn’t just have the initial brilliant decision to open a location on an Oregon beach, they had to choose the right place, the right people, and continuously pivot or build their fortune. It didn’t just come to them.
“We have needed to evolve our business model from time to time, to ensure long-term sustainability. This is not an easy business (!) and finding ways to stay ahead of the curve is a necessity,” says Mary Jones.
The first of those pivotal decisions came with hiring of brewmaster Darron Welch, at the time an untested new brewer with only a few years of professional brewing experience. Welch and the Schons met at a conference in Portland, and Welch pestered them over and over until he got a meeting and sold himself. It turned into one of the longest tenures of any brewer and brewery in Oregon, let alone the United States. In 2024 Darron Welch was inducted into the Oregon Beer Awards Hall of Fame.
But the pub itself was not an immediate hit. Pacific City was small and quiet (and still is relatively so), and the Schons realized they had to bring the people to them. It wasn’t enough to have a good thing going and hope people found it, they had to let people know and make it easier for them to enjoy it.
“After of couple years of not having enough customers, we identified the issue of not enough overnight accommodations in our area to provide the customer base we needed,” says Jeff Schons.
Pacific City had less than 1,000 year-round residents in the 90s and virtually no lodging. It was also the 1990s and craft beer or “microbrew” was still extremely niche and not taken very seriously. This was a time when craft beer was still associated with homebrews, and most people had no idea what an IPA was.
“We designed and built the Inn at Cape Kiwanda, and its 35 rooms immediately started making a difference, not only for the Pelican, but for other businesses in Pacific City, particularly in the off-season,” says Jeff Schons. “It was a survival necessity to make that happen and fortunately we were able to find a way to get it done. This is a great example of a pivot - needing to build a hotel when we had no intention of becoming hoteliers.”
The Schons’ now own four properties in Pacific City: Headlands Coastal Lodge & Spa, Inn at Cape Kiwanda, Hart’s Camp and Cape Kiwanda RV Park. In 2024 they brought on boutique family-owned hotel brand, Noble House Hotels & Resorts, as a partner to help operate their vacation lodging.
Pelican Brewing began their expansion from a brewpub with very limited distribution to a Pacific northwest powerhouse of production when they opened a second brewery in Tillamook in 2013 and added a packaging hall in 2016. That same year they opened a new brewpub in Cannon Beach with it’s own pilot brewery. Before you knew it, Pelican’s 12oz bottles and 22oz bombers were widely available and business was booming.
In 2019 Pelican Brewing announced perhaps their most ambitious project yet with a new brewery and restaurant in Lincoln City perched over the Siletz Bay. The early renderings and previews of the project set the stage for perhaps Oregon’s glitziest brewery yet, a sure fire destination cementing Pelican’s reputation as the ultimate beercation-friendly brewery.
Pelican Brewing on Siletz Bay in Lincoln City, Oregon
The impressive 15,333 square foot brewpub, was designed to accomodate approximately 226 guests. Views of the bay and coastal wetlands abundant from every angle as the floor-to-ceiling windows to flood the expansive dining room with natural light. An upper mezzanine area with even better views of the bay and adjacent to new private group meeting or dining space. Outside the building, an expansive 2,600 square foot outdoor patio with an ocean breeze and multiple seating options. Even a seasonal fish market on the deck.
But then the pandemic. Pelican’s Siletz Bay project originally planned to open in early 2021 was pushed back and ultimately didn’t open until late 2022 when people were still only cautiously going back into restaurants. Pelican Siletz Bay opened to a different consumer, with less of the younger generation going out for the premium experience and instead looking for deals to drink at home if they drank at all.
Pelican Brewing was ready to meet the moment with ‘Sparkle Hops’ a non-alcoholic hop water brand infused with light fruit flavors. For a brewery that had then just turned 25 years old (ancient in craft beer years) Pelican has proved remarkably adept at predicting the incoming tide while avoiding the quick to dissolve industry trends.
Four years later and Pelican Brewing has turned 30 years old in 2026. The low or no-alcohol trend shows little signs of abating and even Pelican co-owner/co-founder Jeff Schons has had to give up alcohol for health reasons. Pelican brewmaster Darron Welch has risen to the challenge of diversifying the lineup with cider and craft soda.
In 2025 Pelican announced a lineup of 3 non-alcoholic craft sodas. Their house-made Root Beer available on tap at their pub since 1998, now available in 12oz cans for the first time along with a Cream Soda and locally-inspired Marionberry flavor. All three sodas are made with natural sugars and no artificial ingredients and have been well received in grocery and convenience stores, not to mention on the family friendly Oregon coast. While visiting Pelican Brewing ahead of their 30th anniversary celebrations we were able to preview two new interesting flavors: Ginger Soda, and a Coffee Cream soda.
“We have needed to evolve our business model from time to time, to ensure long-term sustainability. This is not an easy business (!) and finding ways to stay ahead of the curve is a necessity,” says Jones.
None of this is to suggest that Pelican Brewing isn’t still a classic beer oriented business. While most breweries would make an IPA, or maybe a pilsner or a collector connoisseur friendly barrel-aged Stout for their milestone 30th anniversary, Pelican went in with a Maibock. Developed in the style of strong pale German lagers suited for springtime sipping, the 30th Anniversary Maibock is a balanced, drinkable bock that pours a pale yellow. Bright floral, noble hop aromas are accented by slightly toasty malt nuances, while a soft, clean finish allows the crisp lager character to shine through. The 8.4% ABV brew is now available on draft in all Pelican locations.
“Our 30th Anniversary Maibock is a reflection of the German beers that kindled what would become a lifelong passion project and that served as an inspiration for Pelican Brewing Company,” adds brewmaster Darron Welch.
To mark the three decades of steady growth on the Coast, food menus are getting a subtle refresh. Fan favorites will continue on the roster, joined by imaginative new dishes capitalizing on the change in seasons and creativity of the culinary crew. New items include appetizers like Burrata & Crispy Prosciutto, featuring creamy burrata with roasted tomatoes, crispy prosciutto, fresh basil, balsamic pearls and warm focaccia, and Ahi Aguachile, featuring pasilla-coriander crusted ahi lightly seared and finished with cilantro-lime salsa, thinly sliced red onion, Fresno chiles and edible flowers. Entrees include Blackened Mahi Mahi, served over couscous with roasted vegetables, cilantro sambal and fresh mango pico de gallo. Read our deep dive on the new food menu and beer pairings with chef Sabrina Chapman.
Pelican Brewing Yachats rendering by Jones Architecture
Pelican Brewing is growing in other ways as well, back to their roots as a formative brewpubs and coastal destinations. The recently opened Pelican location in Rockaway Beach marked their fifth location and a sixth restaurant is coming soon in Yachats. But that’s not all, Mary Jones has revealed that the brewery is looking to add 4 or 5 more pubs to their roster over the next half-dozen years. That would put Pelican behind only McMenamins for the most locations of any one brewing company in the northwest.
“I can't imagine doing more than 1 or 2 per year, and likely there will be some years where we don't do any, because we either cannot find the right location, or because the model needs to change somehow to meet the needs of the customers,” says Jones.
“Likely on the coast is where we will continue to look,” adds Jeff Schons. “But we wouldn't rule out some other destination location - but it would have to be very special! Competition is always a factor - we don't need to be located where there are others filling the customer needs just fine.”
While Pelican has grown beyond the single lonely destination brewpub on a beach in Pacific City, it’s still refreshing to see them seek out growth not only in the off-premise packaged market but also staying true to the brewpub model. So far, Pelican has only opened locations in coastal towns and cities in Oregon and plans to follow that path. How they select cities to come to in the future will be interesting as there are not too many iconic locations left (Astoria, Coos Bay, and Newport come to mind).
“It will depend on if the customers and the communities let us know it's something that resonates with them. If the model proves to be successful, then we'll continue to work on finding locations that work in places people want to find Pelican,” says Jones. “One thing we've learned is that we can only grow as much as our team and other resources can fully support, Growth for us is usually self-governing; sometimes we've gone a number of years without any growth, due to economic or other conditions. So it may be that we'll decide to stop at just a couple more. Time will tell.”
A pint of Pelican’s classic Doryman’s Dark Ale at the Pacific City brewpub