(Darron Welch - HeadBrewer, Todd Campbell - Staff Brewer, Ben Love - Brewery Manager)

Pacific City, Oregon • 2 October 2006 —For the third time in seven years, the Pelican Pub & Brewery has won “Brewery of the Year” honors at the 25^th Annual Great American Beer Festival. Head brewer Darron Welch was named “Brewer of the Year – Large Brewpub”. The team from the Pelican Pub & Brewery won an astounding five of the highly coveted medals: Kiwanda Cream Ale won the gold medal in the Golden/Blonde Ale category, Doryman’s Dark Ale scored gold in the American Brown Ale category, Tsunami Stout captured the gold in the Foreign-Style Stout category, MacPelican’s Scottish Style Ale took the silver medal in the Scottish-Style Ale category, and Stormwatcher’s Winterfest won the silver medal in the Barley Wine-Style Ale category. 

“This has been an amazing ride,” 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.  To win so many medals and ‘Large Brewpub of the Year’ on the heels of our tremendous showing here last year is just an absolute tribute to all the hard work and dedication of everyone on the Pelican Pub team!”

This is not the first time the Pelican Pub & Brewery has won “Brewery of the Year” and “Brewer of the Year” honors.  In 2000 and 2005, the Pelican Pub & Brewery won this award in the “Small Brewpub” category.  This year, 2006, the Pelican Pub & Brewery moved to the Large Brewpub category due to steady growth in beer sales and production.

Great American Beer Festival winners were selected by an international panel of brewing experts from an astounding field of 2402 entries received from 450 American breweries. “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.” 

Of particular note is the number of beers that repeated medal wins from the Great American Beer Festival 2005.  Kiwanda Cream Ale and MacPelican’s Scottish Style Ale repeated the results from 2005 this year, while Doryman’s Dark Ale moved from a silver medal to gold in its category. 

For more information on the Great American Beer Festival, and a complete 2006 winners’ list, visit www.beertown.org.

The Great American Beer Festival has been held every year since 1982 and is presented by the Association of Brewers not-for-profit educational, trade association for small and craft brewers. Its mission is to make quality beer and brewing knowledge accessible to all. Visit the website: www.beertown.org to learn more.  The Association also hosts the bi-annual World Beer Cup^® and is based in Boulder , Colo. , U.S.A.

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