Tap Handle #184: Elysian - The Wise ESB

Conceptually this is a great tap. Other varieties are similar style but have different colors and labels. They have become pretty rare.

Elysian was founded in 1995 in Seattle, Washington, by Dave Buhler, Joe Bisacca, and Dick Cantwell. Cantwell had been a homebrewer who gained a reputation at the Duwamps Cafe, the Pike Place Brewery, and Big Time Brewing. Buhler is a former spirits wholesaler and Bisacca was a vice president at Seafirst Bank. The first location was a beer hall and main brewery on Capitol Hill, Seattle’s most populous neighborhood. In 1997 Elysian was chosen to operate a pub and small brewery at Gameworks, a large entertainment complex owned by Universal Studios, Dreamworks & Sega. Elysian left this partnership in 2002 upon expiration of the five-year contract. A year later Elysian opened TangleTown, an 80-seat neighborhood brewery/bistro. Elysian Fields, their third location, opened in August 2006 near Seattle’s two sports arenas. It is typical to find over twenty different Elysian beers between the three locations. In 2011, Elysian expanded its operations with a 35,000-square-foot production-only facility in the Georgetown neighborhood.

The Wise ESB is an extra special bitter that was the brewery's first beer, created in 1996, and won gold medals at the 2003 and 2004 Great American Beer Festivals. It has aromas of caramel, honey, citrus, and floral. Weighted average on ratebeer.com is 3.51 out of 5.

Fun Fact: my dad Guy, who has been mentioned in this blog from time to time, lives on Capitol Hill, not to far from the original Elysium brewery.

Elysian Official Website