Pelican Grand Cru de Pelican

Brewed by Pelican Pub & Brewery
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Pacific City, Oregon USA

(750ml bottle, 2007 vintage) Medium beige head atop clear mahogany body. Aroma is moderately sweet, sticky caramel/toffee, raisin/plum, some chocolate, light alcohol. Taste is moderately sweet, chocolate, some plum/raisin, light alcohol. Sticky medium-full body.

Rerate, 750mL bottle, 2007 vintage, courtesy of mnapier. Thanks, Paul! Pours a murky-brown color; slightly oily; light-tan head with patch fine-bubbled lacing. Solid amounts of dried red fruits, brown sugar, and lightly acidic citrus in the aroma; solid, dense, and fruity. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: chewy dried fruits, brown sugars, and fruity maltiness; nicely dense and chewy strong Belgian. Lengthy finish: apples, fruitiness, and light brown sugar; nicely chewy, sweet ending. 7.4.7.4.13=3.5

750mL bottle, 2007 vintage, courtesy of argo0. Thanks, Aaron! Pours a medium brown color; huge, fizzy medium-tan head with solid retention and lacing. Lots of cola, dried fruits, and candy sugar in the aroma; pleasant, chewy brown-sugar core. Fizzy carbonation. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: lots of boozy dried fruits, caramel, and brown sugar; plenty of residual sugar; overall a generous, messy Belgian beer. Lengthy finish, showing brown sugar, candy sugar and caramel / dried fruits. 8.4.7.3.14=3.6

750ml shared by argo0. Murky dark muddy brown colored body with a caramel colored head that shoes a green tint. Wow, huge nose of spiced bread, yeast, boozy alcohol, pepper, brown sugar, toasted bread, etc. Chewy, full, hot, boozy, green, even, and this has aged for a year? Really, really good otherwise... sticky, sharp alcohol steeped plums, raisins and toast. Mmmm.

Courtesy of argo0. Hazy dark amber body with a small tan head. Sugary sweet nose with an enormous amountsof caramel/toffee and dark fruits. The flavor is very sweet, lightly bitter and astringent with plums, prunes, mounds of toffee and caramel, and some light berry. Full body is sticky with moderate carbonation. Finish is ling and astringent.

Strong aroma of alcohol and yeast with fruit consisting of prunes, raisins and a hint of brown sugar. Flavor is strong dried fruit of prune, cranberry and raisin with strong yeast and alcohol. Overall, I like this beer a lot. This is important as it is Belgian style and traditionally I don’t like belgians. Good stuff.

Jan 07 botte. Poured a deep redish/brown. Great head, carbonation and lacing. Aroma of raisins, toffee, dark fruit and bread. Taste is very similar with additional malt overtones. This beer is very nice but not quite a grand cru in my opinion. The tartness is missing. I followed the sampling with some world class Rodenback-no comparison. This seems more like a Belgian Dubbel.

Gold foil capped 750 ml. bottle, blurb and packaging date (Jan 07) on the right side of the label, sampled in a tulip glass. Poured a dark woody brown with ruby red hues in the bottom of the glass. Robust pale tan head of frothy cream buoyant by the active carbonation, it takes awhile to finally settle into a thin skim-like lacing. Light amount of sticky lace. This limited release from Pelican Bay is off to an impressive start. Rich, luscious smelling nose of sweet malts and spice. Malty aromas of caramelized sugar and toffee with hints of toasted grainy bread. Blackberry jam and plums meld together with the earthy spiced yeastiness. The hops are pretty subdued, just a mellow floral, herbaceous. As it warms, gentle wafts of coffee malts come out. The lively carbonation gives the body a nimble light feel, crisp and dry in the mouth. The complex malt flavors puts this in the upper range of the style for me. Tastes of brown sugar, caramel, toffee, toasted brown bread and traces of nutty coffee, the malt flavors just go on and on. Subtle fruitiness, figs, raisins and dates, that add a sweet mild acidity to the taste. The hops make a light herbal spicy appearance towards the end, helping to dry out the finish. The alcohol has a good low temperature Belgian spiciness, softly warming presence through out the taste. This is an extremely pleasing Christmas Eve sipper, shared with friends, quite enjoyable all by itself.

Courtesy of Styles Bottle: The aroma is a combination of yeast, grapes, and faint caramel. It pours a transparent mohagany with a minimal off-white head that quickly fades to the point that the liquid looks still. The flavor starts with caramel, grapes, and yeast. The finish has some light floral bitterness and faint raisin. Medium bodied with a somewhat fizzy mouthfeel.