January 18th was the first of the Beer Chef’s beer dinners for 2008, and featured the beers of Pelican Pub & Brewery in Pacific City, Oregon. Brewmaster Darron Welch was on hand to talk about his beers. Three times Pelican Pub & Brewery has been named brewpub of the year at the Great American Beer Festival.

Darron Welch, who easily won the award for most prepared brewer at a beer dinner, regaled the crowd with stories of his beers creation, their ingredients, process and more. It was great fun to hear so much detail on each beer.

The first course, a wonderful ceviche of day boat scallop with a lobster emulsion, paired nicely with Saison du Pelican.

The main event, slow roasted duck breast with Bellwether San Andreas cheese grits, Satsuma mandarins and fig gastrique, which was paired with the second edition of Darron’s Grand Cru de Pelican. The first edition, which I tasted last year, was made with mostly white sugar with some brown sugar, hand-carmelized. This year, the entire batch was made with Turbinado sugar and I think it made quite a difference in the finished product. This year’s was quite excellent and its complex rich flavors complimented the diverse tastes of the third course.

After the dinner, Pelican Pub brewmaster Darron Welch with the beer chef Bruce Paton.