Sun Flare
Pelican Brewing Company

Bottle from Albertsons. Medium golden with one finger head. Subdued aroma if malts and grains. Taste too rides on the grain bill, minor hoppiness, fruity citrus. Pretty drinkable.

Clear gold with three fingers of white head with a good amount of lace.
Smell is floral fruity hops with bread crust malt.
Taste is floral citrus hops with bread crust malt.
Mouthfeel is light with good carbonation. Finish is lightly dry and mildly bitter.
Easy drinking mild APA.

Had on tap at their brewery in Cannon Beach. This one poured from a bottle on a hot day, using an insulated tumbler. Clear pour, lager-like bright light amber color, modest head. As an APA, it's lighter than most and is clean tasting. Good hop profile, tasty malt base. Easy drinking and clocks in at a mere 5.1 ABV. It's not the best APA around, but it's a good match for a summer day on the beach.

Clear yellow brew with a pile of foam that sticks to the tall Maredsous goblet. Light body, crisp, and sudsy in the mouth. The aroma is striking, with lime peel and green melon. The label says it's brewed with Meridian, El Dorado, and Santiam hops. It's a light touch but quite fragrant.

There's a touch of malt with a little sweetness. Some citrus and grassy flavors. Overall a very tasty light brew with lovely aromatic hops. a distinctly better than average Pale Ale. From the 22 oz bottle purchased at Safeway.

September 1, 2018 update: This tastes very anemic and uninteresting this year. Green and resiny. Not much aroma. Bitterish and almost dishwatery. Now brewed at the big Tillamook brewing facility.

22oz bottle

Pours two fingers of white, frothy, creamy head into my willi glass. This glass has been getting high yields carbonation wise lately, but nothing like this – 30 seconds after pouring this guy, the head foamed up to a half inch over the rim of the glass, not over spilling though. I’ve seen this on draught, never out of a bottle though. Body is orange, with some gold, not very yellow, like the description claimed. Visibility is quite high. As already mentioned – a huge amount of bubbles coming up from the bottom. Overall this looks good so far.

The nose leaves a little to be desired. Extremely light malt character, with an extremely noticeable, one sides citrus character, a lot of lemon here. Almost a papery, chalk like aroma as well, not oxidation though. It kind of reminds me emergen-c, it has this chalk like citrus aroma to it. It’s not terrible, but it is certainly not very desirable. Doesn’t really come across as a dry hopped pale, more like a single hop, single malt pale.

Flavor is much the same. One dimensional malt profile, has a grainy, unpleasant finish to it. Citrus is a little watery, no punch to it, and not really any supporting flavors. A little bitterness, but no hop flavor to speak of. This in no way shape or form makes me think of a dry hopped pale ale. Not very good.

The mouthfeel is watery. Bitterness lingers for maybe a nano second. No real character on the mouth from the hops or citrus though, no bite, no zing. I will cut the mouthfeel a little bit of a break because I’m starting to think this willi glass just shoots all the carbonation out of a beer as soon as it’s poured. Still, willi glasses are generally considered good vessels.

The drinkability is alright I guess. It’s easy enough to put back, but not because it tastes all too good, it’s just light as all hell.

Overall this just isn’t very good. It doesn’t taste bad, but I wouldn’t call the flavor good. Maybe this might work for someone who strictly drinks only lawnmower beers, and their selection has run dry.

The Appearance diminished as the beer progressed. What started out as a creamy, pillowy head, became soapy. The head did hang around for quite some time, and left an island of foam all the way down to the bottom of the glass. The lacing however, was soapy and pretty patchy, not very good. Overall it was a very odd looking beer, not terrible, but not amazing either – soapy heads are a real backbreaker.