Pelican Brewing Company wins big at the Australian International Beer Awards
By briana 8 years ago

Pelican Brewing Company wins big at the Australian International Beer Awards

Pelican Brewing Company wins eight medals and is awarded Champion Medium International Brewery

Pacific City, Oregon (May 19, 2016)Pelican Brewing Company last night snapped up eight international awards including its second time as Champion Medium International Brewery at the 2016 Australian International Beer Awards, the largest annual competition of its kind in the world judging both draught and packaged beer. Pelican pulled in honors for:

CHAMPION             Medium International Brewery

GOLD                         Kiwanda Cream Ale                        English Summer (Best British Style Ale)

GOLD                         Mother of All Storms                      Wood Aged (Best Specialty Beer)

SILVER                      Dirty Bird IPA                                  Other IPA (Best IPA)

SILVER                      Pelican Saison                                 Saison (Best Belgian/French Style Ale)

SILVER                      Stormwatcher’s Winterfest           Barley/Wheat Wine (Best Scotch Ale/Barley wine)

BRONZE                    Umbrella IPA                                  Other IPA (Best IPA)

BRONZE                    Tsunami Stout                                 Other Stout (Best Stout)

The brewery has consistently been recognized by the Australian International Beer Awards and was named Grand Champion Beer there two years running in 2004 and 2005. This is the second year in a row Pelican was named Champion Medium International Brewery.

The Australian International Beer Awards are presented annually by the Royal Agricultural Society (RASV) in partnership with Federation University Australia.  The Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA) is the largest competition of its kind in the Asia Pacific region and is renowned for celebrating beer and brewing excellence in Australia and around the world.  The AIBA provides brewers with an opportunity to benchmark their beers against international industry standards and aims to create greater consumer awareness of the quality and diversity of beer styles available in Australia and internationally.

“All of us at Pelican Brewing Company are deeply honored to win this award at the 2016 Australian International Beer Awards—it’s amazing to be chosen from so many world class breweries,” said Darron Welch, highly-decorated brewmaster at Pelican Brewing Company. “The Australian International Beer Awards have been an integral part of our journey so far dating back to 2003 when we first entered beers—the feedback and opportunities from this event have been an immense benefit for Pelican Brewing. It has helped us make better beer, reach more customers, and spread the word about great beer.”

Pelican was born at the beach 20 years ago as a small, stand alone brewpub in a small town on the Oregon coast—Pacific City.  Pacific City is still a small town, but with consistent growth and demand for its products, Pelican has recently expanded to double brewing and bottling capacity at its Tillamook facility and opened a new brewpub in Cannon Beach. Pelican also recently won another medal at the World Brew Cup℠.

According to Welch, Pelican has always been focused on creating as wide a range of beers as possible:

  • designed and brewed with innovation and craftsmanship
  • showing our customers and fans the many possibilities of flavor in the world of beer
  • dedicated  attention to detail in the pursuit of quality and consistency

“Many years ago—it doesn’t seem so long ago actually—Pelican was fortunate to win Grand Champion Beer two years in a row.  It is so inspiring to be recognized again eleven years later by the judges here in Australia,” says Welch.

About Pelican Brewing Company Pelican Brewing Company was founded in 1996 by Jeff Schons and Mary Jones in Pacific City with Oregon’s only oceanfront brewpub. Celebrating its 20th year, the brewing company has created masterpieces like Kiwanda Cream Ale, India Pelican Ale, MacPelican’s Scottish Ale, Tsunami Stout and Doryman’s Dark. With the vision, creativity and brewing expertise of founding brewmaster Darron Welch, Pelican Brewing has won over 300 awards including the 2014 World Beer Cup© Champion Small Brewing Company and Brewmaster of the Year. Pelican Brewing currently distributes 22oz bottles, 12oz bottles in 6-packs, a new mixed 12-pack, and 50 liter and 20 liter kegs via a network of distributors in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Hawaii and Vermont. The company operates brewing and brewpub facilities in Pacific City, Tillamook and Cannon Beach.

Pelican History at AIBA In addition to several class trophies and dozens of individual medals awarded Pelican since 2003, the brewery has also won AIBA honors for:

2004:            Grand Champion Beer

2005:            Grand Champion Beer and Champion International Brewery

2012:            Champion Small International Brewery

2015:             Champion Medium International Brewery

2016:            Champion Medium International Brewery

Contact: Claudia Johnson, Public Relations, 503-799-2220.