Pelican Brewing targets five new pubs, expands beyond beer to grow

Pelican Brewing is treating its 30th anniversary as a growth plan, not a nostalgia lap. The Oregon Coast brewery wants to open five or more pubs before it turns 40, a goal that puts real pressure on how Pelican thinks about location, format and the next generation of drinkers.

That expansion starts from a footprint that already stretches along the coast. Founded in Pacific City in 1996, Pelican calls itself Oregon’s only beachfront brewpub and says it has collected more than 450 awards along the way. The company now operates in Pacific City, Cannon Beach, Siletz Bay, Tillamook and Rockaway Beach, with a sixth location planned for Yachats in summer 2026. That is not the pace of a brewery standing still; it is the blueprint of a regional brand trying to stay visible in a crowded market.

The strategy is as much about what Pelican serves as where it serves it. In 2025, the brewery pushed beyond beer with hard hop drinks and craft sodas, building out a portfolio meant to keep grocery-store sales moving as tastes shift. Pelican’s craft sodas are described by the company as using natural sugars and no artificial sweeteners, a detail that fits the broader move toward non-alcoholic and lower-alcohol options without abandoning the brewery’s core identity. Pelican also launched Sparkle Hops, a hop-infused sparkling water, on June 16, 2022, showing that this diversification did not appear overnight.

The company’s Tillamook location gives that growth a production backbone. Pelican says the site houses its production brewery, along with canning and bottling lines built to satisfy Pelican fans across the Pacific Northwest. At the retail end, Pelican has leaned into a neighborhood pub model at places like Siletz Bay, while Rockaway Beach carries a more personal piece of the company’s history, since co-founder Mary Jones spent childhood summers nearby at her grandparents’ cabin.

Jones has been direct about why the business keeps changing. “We have needed to evolve our business model from time to time, to ensure long-term sustainability.” That line captures the shape of Pelican’s current moment: a brewery born at the beach in Pacific City, still locally owned and operated by the three founding friends, now trying to turn coastal familiarity into a bigger, more durable hospitality brand. The 30th anniversary Maibock may nod to the past, but the five-pub target points squarely at the next decade.