Pacific City, Oregon • 4 October 2004 —The brewers from the Pelican Pub & Brewery recently returned from Denver, CO with three highly coveted medals from the 23^rd Annual Great American Beer Festival.  India Pelican Ale won a gold medal in the American–Style India Pale Ale category, the largest beer-style category in the competition.  Adding to this impressive achievement, the Pelican Pub & Brewery also collected a silver medal for Tsunami Stout in the Foreign-Style Stout category, and a bronze medal for Surfer’s Summer Ale in the English-Style Summer Ale category.

 
“This is just huge,” states Darron Welch, Head Brewer at the Pelican Pub & Brewery, “there is no other beer festival in the world with the level of competition and quality as the Great American Beer Festival.  And for India Pelican Ale to win in the American–Style India Pale Ale category, by far the biggest category in the whole competition with 93 entries this year, well I guess I’m still in a bit of shock!”

Of particular note are some of the other awards that India Pelican Ale and Tsunami Stout have earned this year.  In Melbourne , Australia , India Pelican Ale won “Champion Ale” status and the “Grand Champion Beer” trophy at the Australian International Beer Awards, an international beer competition with 885 entries from 30 different countries.   Similarly, Tsunami Stout fared well in other competitions in 2004, winning silver medals at both the World Beer Cup and the North American Beer Awards earlier this year.  “I’m really proud of how well our beers have done this year.” stated Welch, “Brewers and beer judges are a highly opinionated lot, and for our beers to win so consistently is a major achievement.  I guess our efforts to produce consistently excellent beers has paid off!” 

Great American Beer Festival winners were selected by an international panel of brewing experts from an astounding field of 2016 entries received from 398 American breweries. More than 1400 breweries were invited to compete. “The Great American Beer Festival is the premier judging event for the American craft beer industry,” states Nancy Johnson, Festival Director. “Being chosen a winner, no matter if gold, silver or bronze is truly an accomplishment.”

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For more information on the Great American Beer Festival, and a complete 2004 winners’ list, visit www.beertown.org.