Elysian XOXO

Brewed by Elysian Brewing Co.
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Seattle, Washington USA

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker, Tumbler

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

The maltiest of the aromas today at Elysian. Too much, almost dirty. This is not good. A lot of coffee but also chili pepper and chocolate stout flavors. Also a flat flavor. Really untasty for me. Easily the hottest beer in terms of pure heat I’ve had, but this is Elysian’s first real bomb for me.

Shaker pint draft at Elysian Fields in Seattle, Washington. Pour is a deep dark brown, cloudy with a tan head. Aroma is roast malt, touch of dark chocolate along with an earthy vegetable scent. Taste is the roast, then turns quickly and smoothly to bright and hot spice; cayenne and hot green pepper. The spice flows nicely from the roasted malt and is well paired and integrated. Finish is dry and spicy, picking up some nice mineral flint as well. Nice pepper spice beer, worked well with the stout elements.

Tap. Nitro head on dirty dark brown. Dry dusty cocoa aroma with some interesting characteristics that may come from the cinnamon and/or peppers. Starts out vegetable then pepper with a big chocolate milk finish which continues into the aftertaste with sparkles and flashes of chile head. Some sugary sweetness. A nice imaginative change of pace. Body maybe a bit thin after nitro subsides.

Draft. Nitro. Blackish beer with a dark cream colored nitro head. Chocolate and light malt aroma. Big chile and chocolate flavor. medium-light bodied. Chile and light chocolate lingers.

Had this on tap a the Capitol Hill Elysian pub on 3/20/010. Colour... very dark brown with a thick tan head. Nose... mildly roasty with quite a chile hit! Palate... WHOA! Chile con carne (light on the carne!)! Hot! Ow! Burn! Ow! Can’t taste anything else! Palate is "roont" for the night! Wish they woulda tuned the chile down a bit so I could taste the other flavours.

draft @ brewpub. Opaque black-brown with a nitro tan head. Chocolate aroma has chilis: smoked ones like chipotle or ancho. Smooth and soft from the nitro. Gets better as it warms. Flavors have lots of chili. Chili seeds. Can feel that in the throat and on my lips. Overpowering flavors say, "HELLO! I am smoky and spicy and I’m here with my good friend, chocolate." One great chili-feature beer, one of the best ones I’ve had.

I brewed a beer exactly in this style (albeit without the nitrogenation), so I was excited to try this. Beautiful nitrogenated dark chocolate body with creamy, luscious, velvey, chocolate cream head. Absolutely gorgeous in the glass. Wonderful, extraordinarily parasable aroma of roast barley, black barley, assorted malts, assorted roast chiles. Smooth, roasty, mild chocolate backbone with piquant chili taste. The fire increases with each sip. The slinky smoothness of beer complents the hot chile flavor. An excellent synthesis in this smooth, but bold brew.

Draft on nitro at Tangletown. Pours a deep, dark brown - almost black - with a tan cascading head. Sweet aroma - chocolate up front, relatively mild - not much pepper or roastiness. The flavor brings out those anchos like no other brew I’ve ever had, though - there’s really a significant amount of spice in here. It does more than leave a tingle on your tongue - your mouth will actually burn a little. Slightly dilute, but I’ll chalk that up at least in part to the nitro. I actually really wish there were more to this. The chilis are intriguing, but they really dominate the brew, overpowering any other notes in there.

draft at elysian fields. first off, this is in every way in the glass a stout, rather than an hsv, but the classification is what it is. just clarifying expectations. man, this is a fruatrating beer. pours a murky, grainy ebony with a huge, thick, dense, creamy, gorgeous tan head that really sticks around. little lace. roasty sweet chocolate, cinnamon, and cherry pepper nose. smells luke some kickass one of a kind dessert. creamy medium body, not enough carb. mild chocolatey mid palate with some dry pepper and ticklish cinnamon. finish is thin and dry and a little raspy from the spicing. makes you feel like you have to cough. needs a creamier, bubblier body with a sweeter, roastier malt profile. combine that with sweeter, roastier peppers and a bit less powdery spice and this could be a goody.

Hazy medium brown with level nitro head. Earthy ancho nose with ints of cinnamon. Delicious - ancho, light head and a good chocolate backdrop. The body is fairly nitro, not much sign of the sour mash. I like the flavours, but the nitro neutralizes some of the complexity for which the brewers worked so hard.