Pelican Bridal Ale

Brewed by Pelican Pub & Brewery
Style: Bière de Garde
Pacific City, Oregon USA

Cloudy amber pour with floaties and a thin white head. Aroma of husky malt and fruits. The palate is medium and creamy with soft carbonation. This is a decent bière de garde but not much more, it seems to be lacking something in order to be really good.

Bottle. Deep dark copper in color with a nice tan head.Malty and grainy aroma. Chocolate and hoppy notes. Malty and fruity flavor. Thick and smooth. Creamy. Light hops. Medium bodied. Chocolatety. Finish is fruity. Decent beer.

In my Kasteel chalice, it’s a darkish mahogany/ crimson coloration, with lovelyu creamy froth atop... In the nose, sweet, light, creamy, malt-dominated, very bready, lightly floral...nice... Taste: dark and malty, rich and nearly thick...bready and hefty, spicy, like a gingerbread brew, nearly....quite nice, and fairly unique, some lemon zest shines through in the flavor...a real mouthfull, this one, a mess of complicated flavors. Hard not to like it. Most pleasurable, this. A big bottle, a lot to contend with, to be sure, and my opinion does not change...this is a hard-to categorize ale, that just spills out deliciousness. Sweet, luscious, fruity malt, some slight hops, and a medium body, light, fruity finish. Very good beer. Tas-teee!

Post-Mondial tasting at Goldorak’s pad, from 750 ml bottle (bottle October 2004, #89/450). My sample is from near the end of the bottle, with readily apparent yeasy chunks in the thick medium-amber body with a fair soup tan head....caramel delights nearly mask interesting though not altogether pleasant rotting peat wafts, maple and a hint of ill-defined fruit shows up later.....on the tongue, earthy and moderately sweet, thick and full of burnt crusty sugars, dry in the middle and somewhat at the end...a bit dull though not poorly made. Ehh.

A veil shields the blood orange hues...Earth, pils and caramel maltiness hover over sweet orange and flowery fruitiness...Supporting hops don’t necessarily balance out the overall sweetness, but the clean mouthfeel makes it all work somehow...

Orangey auburn pour that shows a slowly fading off-white head with yellow reflects. Initially soft, sweet, doughy pie-like nose with a vague mellow citrus and floral hop character underneath. Ehh.. Honey and nuts Cherios cereals! Shows gentle fruits in mouth, mostly orange and muscat. Develops a rather metallic character in mouth, I seem to find that quite often in belgian yeast derived beer with a strong honey character. So a lightly mineral finish that contrasts with the otherwise nicely toasty, sweet honeyed low baked cookies with appropriate backing earthiness. Aftertaste stays quite sweet though, not quite cloying, but a bit more than I’d prefer and this detracts a bit from the otherwise enjoyable, airy, mouthfeel with cleansing carbonation. Thank you Darkelf.

Mahogany with a tannish, foamy head. Warm biscuits in the aroma with a light spice character and piney hops. Biscuity flavors and toasted malts. Hops are bitter and floral. Mellow tail. Decent beer.

705ml bottle (Oct 2005) - Clear copper with a lasting light tan head. The aroma is nutty and very floral.The flavor is more subdued then I expected. Almost like an ESb with some Belgian yeast notes. Dry smooth palate. The toasted malts and hops used really make it ESBish but the yeast clearly separates it from that style. Interesting.