Pelican India Pelican Ale

Truth in advertising. The description on the bottle is exactly what you get in the bottle. Long lasting head. Heavy lacing. Gold beer. Huge pure hop aroma. Some breweries would call this an Imperial. Got to be a hop lover to enjoy it. Not for the timid. Enticing sweetness puts in a noble effort against the strong hop bitterness.

Lots and lots of zesty, fresh, citrus cascade hop aroma. Flavor is much the same- VERY GOOD. This beer is all hop and nothing else. JUST THE WAY I LIKE IT. Medium/full body, bitter finish. I’ll take this beer off your hands any time.

Bomber. This is a great IPA! Pours deeply red with lots of copper overtones. Sudsy white film over the top of that. Big pine blossoms on the nose, softened with an almost palpable creaminess...vanilla? I don’t know where that note is coming from or how to describe it. Maybe one small part of this beer’s mission was to wake me up to the realization that it’s best when having something *good* about a beer be the part you can’t put your finger on. It’s not like I was in any danger of thinking I knew it all, but this beer has a pleasant mystery to the fragrance. The taste is unambiguously great. This is probably my favorite of the pine-dominated IPAs (if there is such a grouping of beers). At least, it is for the foreseeable future, which is never very long with beer. There’s plenty of softness to the body, but it’s not watery at all; it’s rich and even a bit raw at the end. Some bubbly harshness at the back of the throat is perfect for a beer with such a nicely dried, bitter finish. I could not only drink this beer all day, I’d set aside a day to do it.

Golden orange IPA with a thin white head. Funkuy floral hops, very classic and pleasant, pinhey and coniferous. Im seeing tall sequoias. In mouth, refreshing casi-menthol, with floral hops, covering the mouth. Rich and complex. Like a clover field. Sampled with Mtl crew, April 16 2006.

From bomber. Pours a deep, clear orange with thick off-white head. Nose is a light, sweet citrus and pine. Flavor is a bitter version of the nose. Very drinkable and very good. This ones Dan favorite and now mine as well.

<i>Any first impressions?</i>
-A rich head of foam crowns the translucid orange.
-Luxurious, booming orange hop flowers morph into wooden hop resins and sandy angles.
-As the aroma announces, this is a quintessential West Coast IPA folks; fruity hops all over and just enough malts to support.
-Body is slender and quenching, making this a very drinkable pint.

<i>What if you dig deeper?</i>
-A wooden hop bitterness lingers beautifully.
-The biscuity maltiness fits perfectly with the colourful hoppiness.
-Orange pulp, pink grapefruit, and a plethora of other citrus fruit celebrate their seaside reunion.
-You could complain that it doesn’t have any unique personality, but who cares! This is so well-brewed, clean, and scrumptious, you couldn’t ask more from a typical West Coast IPA.

<b>Bottles.</b>

Bottle: Courtesy of wolhfs. Huge citrus hop aroma with lots of grapefruit. Pours a bright transparent orange with an off-white head. Very citrusy throughout. Sweet citrus up front with a hint of apricot and caramel. Big grapefruit hop finish. Well balanced. One of the better IPA’s I’ve had in a while.

Golden-amber colour. Rich piney aroma with grapefruit and breadcrust accents. Fresh, rich hops - grapefruit, pine needles and wood mix with toffee and breadcrust. Dry, substantial body but never resiny nor cloying. Outstanding example.