‘Tis still the holiday season, at least through January 7, and it’s a great time to be drinking these dark seasonal ales from Pelican Brewing. The brewery sent samples of both, and in the same vein as the IPAs introduced this year, these are solid, well-brewed beers worth exploring. Let’s get straight to my reviews.

Midnight Malt Cocoa Porter

This new beer was released in cans this fall, featuring Midnight wheat malt (hence the name) and brewed “with Meridian Cacao Company nibs, sourced directly from cacao farmers in Tanzania.” I’d received a six-pack of the cans to sample back in October. The description reads:

Inspired by the warmth of a bonfire and a clear crisp starry night, we created Midnight Malt. This beer envelops you in cocoa nibs and soft caramel notes. Our midnight brew has everlasting off-white foam, dark color with sunset highlights, light coffee notes, and a velvety finish. Packed with flavor, yet still easy to drink– Midnight Malt perfectly pairs with your next beach bonfire or late-night shenanigans.

It’s 6% ABV, with 30 IBUs, and was canned on 10/1/20 (I drank it for my notes on 10/22).

Appearance: Opaque, dark inky brown, with a creamy tan head and good lacing.

Smell: Subtle roasty notes, with a deep high-percentage dark chocolate character with a touch of cocoa powder. Notes of cold-brewed coffee, clean all around and surprisingly mellow.

Taste: Black malts that are a touch ashy, dry but not astringent. Subtle bitter chocolate/baking cocoa, toasted wheat, splash of cold-brew coffee, really clean and mild profile drinking more like a lager/Schwarzbier to my taste. There’s a bit of cappuccino foam character. Rich, but mellow.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, smooth lagered-like character, nice lightly roasty and dry finish.

Overall: This is a nice porter with an impressively smooth lager-like profile. There’s not a huge amount of “cocoa” but it’s there, when you look for it.

Bad Santa Cascadian Dark Ale (2020)

Seems like we don’t see many CDAs around much these days, not like during its heyday when every brewery rushed to released one or more versions. I’m glad Bad Santa, as a “black IPA,” is still around, and even more glad that it’s one that is brewed well. Pelican sent me a couple of bottles for the holidays which I enjoyed.

You’d better watch out, you’d better not cry, you better not pout and here’s telling you why—Bad Santa has arrived. Brewed for a limited time each holiday season, this mysterious dark nectar is filled with complex flavors and aromas. Toasted malt and roast character blends seamlessly with the alluring herbal hop aroma that comes from copious amounts of Fuggle hops. Bad Santa doesn’t care if you’ve been naughty or nice as long as this beer is on your list.

Bad Santa is 7.5% ABV with 65 IBUs.

Appearance: Near-black and opaque, with a creamy light tan colored head.

Smell: Gentle roast and a solid piney hop aroma that’s got a touch of resin, but it complements the malt nicely—there’s nothing harsh or tar-like or pitchy, which can frequently happen with piney CDAs.

Taste: Relatively harmonious blend of roasted malts with pine and herbal hop bitterness; bitter baking cocoa and some coffee with clean hops that have a focus on bittering versus any clashing flavors, so this has a really nice dark and cocoa-bitter character with a hint of resin.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with a lingering lightly roasty bitter note.

Overall: One of the consistently-better CDAs out there, an example for how they should be brewed.