Elysian The Wise ESB

Brewed by Elysian Brewing Co.
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Seattle, Washington USA

Thanks go to Andre for this sample. Pours red with a thin pinkish quickly dissipating head that after a few seconds diminishes to a few remnants around the rim of the glass. Smells of yogurt, grapefruit, and other citrussy elements. Tastes peppery with some mild caramel notes and a bitter blood orange. A bit thin on the mouthfeel. Finish is a bit metallic. Good, but I’ve had better bitters than this.

Bottle. Pours a clear, deep reddish-amber color with a dense and creamy khaki head. Fantastic lacing is left behind. Aroma is nicely malty with a fruity and floral hop background. Medium bodied, very creamy with a soft and pleasant carbonation. Full malty caramel flavor that is balanced extremely well with a fruity hop presence. Slightly drying with a medium hop finish that lingers. Quite nice. The tap version I had of this beer recently was very sour in flavor so perhaps some infection problems were happening.

Pours a hazy ruby orange color that is topped by a two finger thick, light tan head. The aroma is a mix of sweet malt, herbal hops, and fruity notes of cherry currants and raisins. The taste is sweet up front, but quickly moves to a sharp biting hop note. The finish has a solid bitterness to it that comes to dominate the beer. I was really quite surprised by the bitterness found in this beer, it is actually quite nice, I just had to readjust from my initial expectations. There is a definite red currant note here, that seems to be hop derived, as well as notes of pine, light citrus notes of grapefruit. The sharp hoppy bitterness of this beer really dries out the finish and makes you want to take another draught. As the beer warms up it begins to pick up some sweetness in the finish that is a mix of fruity and caramel/toffee notes.

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A dense, thick, well-sustained, off-white head on top of an orange-hued amber body. A nutty, toasty aroma dominates with some sweet milk and subtle caramel. This bottle may be old or infected. There is a definite sourness in the flavor that overwhelms most of the other components that exist. This sourness coupled with the lack of hop in the aroma leads me to think this is over the hill. I feel compelled to rate it anyway, because if it is contaminated it shows problems at the brewery.

Bottle ala DocLock. Bright clear copper color with a mellow foamy ecru colored head. After the initial pour the aromas subside. Light toffee with pine, grapefruit and light floral hops. Needs a bit more malt in the nose. Very smooth on the tongue. Clean flavors. Mild dark caramel, lead to a general sweetness that is taken captive by the hops. Hops are pine-like , to citric, floral to lightly herbal. To me this is a touch to "american" Happy for an EB. A good brew. My initial impressions of this just being a Happy amber have been assuaged. The linger is most pleasant, with malt and more floral hops bounding about. Thanks Jeff.

This beer pours an ambery copper color with a small white head and very little lacing to speak of. The aroma is filled with caramel, pine cone, grass, hay, and citrus....smells pretty bitter and extra acetic. The flavor is medium bodied and fairly sticky. Fairly dry bittering finish as would be expected with a mid-sip pirckingling level of carbonation, but not overwhelming. Citrus, pine cones, oak, wood, twigs and grass predominate with drying caramel, vanilla and coconut finish. Tons of Cascade representation..this says pacifc northwest all the way. Sessionable but highly acetic.

Well done. Tried this one after a Stone Ruination. This obviously toned it down but awoke my senses for sure. I could drink a case of u baby. On tap at Bardenay in Boise by Sept. ’05

Pours deep copper/amber with medium off-white head. Aroma of big hops, floral spices, caramel malt, toffee, brown sugar, some tannins. Tastes medium bodied on the palate, very smooth, with hints of caramel malt, solid hops, apricot esters, and some tannic acid as it warms. Fairly complex and well balanced. I consider this to be a top notch ESB.