Pelican Brewing Collaborates with Ben Love of Gigantic Brewing on Bird-Day Volume II

Ben Love and Darron Welch sampling Bird-Day Volume II Tangerine Golden Ale Aged in Mezcal Barrels. (image courtesy of Pelican Brewing)
Ben Love and Darron Welch sampling Bird-Day Volume II Tangerine Golden Ale Aged in Mezcal Barrels. (image courtesy of Pelican Brewing)

In time for unofficial kick-off to summer, Pelican Brewing Company is excited to launch its second of four 25th birthday celebration beers. On the second release, Pelican Brewing partners with Ben Love of Gigantic Brewing for Bird-Day Volume II Tangerine Golden Ale Aged in Mezcal Barrels.

Bird-Day Volume II is a cocktail-inspired beer that presents aromas of bright tangerine and pithiness in the finish, paired with a hit of smokiness, agave, and vanilla-like toasted oak to create a uniquely balanced experience. Pelican partnered with alumni Ben Love of Gigantic Brewing to create this cocktail-inspired ale that’s perfect for summer sipping on the patio at Cape Kiwanda or in your backyard.

Collaborating on Bird-Day Volume II with brewmaster Darron Welch was a homecoming for Ben, “It’s been an honor to be asked to join Darron and the team on Pelican’s birthday collaboration,” says Ben, in a statement. “Pelican was my first real brewing job seventeen years ago. Here Darron taught me the right way to create beer, never to skip a step and to pay attention to every little detail in the process.”

Ben Love and Darron Welch tasting through barrels to find the perfect blend for Bird-Day Volume II Tangerine Golden Ale Aged in Mezcal Barrels. (image courtesy of Pelican Brewing)
Ben Love and Darron Welch tasting through barrels to find the perfect blend for Bird-Day Volume II Tangerine Golden Ale Aged in Mezcal Barrels. (image courtesy of Pelican Brewing)

“When Ben and I brewed together seventeen years ago, it was just Ben and I doing everything from brewing to marketing to sales to customer service,” says Darron on his and Ben’s initial relationship, in a statement. “Ben’s strengths as a brewer are his keen understanding of the brewing process, great palate, and his gregarious enthusiasm for the beer industry that is infectious to his colleagues and customers alike.”

Read More: Pelican Brewing – Brewing on the Oregon Coast for 25 Years

The inspiration for this uniquely balanced beer came from Ben’s love of mezcal sours that became his go-to sipper during the pandemic. From this, Ben and Darron took a twist on this cocktail and added in ripe tangerines and aged the ale in three different kinds of mezcal barrels for three months to develop a complex and flavorful beer.

Bird-Day Volume II sits at 7% ABV and 25 IBUs and is now available in 500 mL bottles at your local bottle shop, on draft at Pelican brewpubs, and through Pelican’s beer subscription service called the Bird-Day Box, with details below.

In addition to Bird-Day Volume II, this quarter’s Bird-Day Box features another unique collaboration with Portland-based company North Drinkware. Inspired by the mountains, North Drinkware handcrafts pint glasses from USGS data to create accurate representations of the most iconic mountains. Pelican and North Drinkware partnered to develop the Pacific City Pint Glass featuring Haystack Rock inside your pint glass. Be the first to receive this one-of-a-kind pint glass and Bird-Day Volume II beer with the purchase of this quarter’s Bird-Day Box.

The subscription box is only open to Oregon residents, and you must be 21 years or older to purchase. The second Bird-Day Box featuring Bird-Day Volume II Tangerine Golden Ale Aged in Mezcal Barrels will be released on May 28, 2021 and can now be ordered at https://shop.pelicanbrewing.com/collections/bird-day-boxes.

Pelican Brewing Bird-Day Volume II is a colaboration with Ben Love of Gigantic Brewing. (image courtesy of Pelican Brewing)
Pelican Brewing Bird-Day Volume II is a collaboration with Ben Love of Gigantic Brewing. (image courtesy of Pelican Brewing)

In the coming months look for the final two Bird-Day 25th Anniversary Collaboration beers with Jason Schonemann of Steel Toe Brewing, and Hutch Kugeman of Brooklyn Brewery. For more information, visit Pelican Brewing Company.