Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.
I’ve chronicled no shortage of Elysian beers here, and for good reason. They’re typically awesome. The company behind Space Dust IPA has been aggressive with its expansion from the Pacific Northwest to the rest of the country, rolling the dice in new markets in an attempt to become a household name among craft brewers.
That boldness applies to Elysian’s brewing process as well. When they want to go wide, they come up with a mass-appeal wheat beer perfect for Seattle Seahawks games. When they want to whittle that focus group down to a specific few they’ll give you an IPA so danky it’ll make whatever room you’re in reek like weed the moment you crack a can.
This year, they’re taking their fall offerings — a pretty solid mix of pumpkin beers ranging from light ales to stouts — and experimenting again. My most recent mailer from the brewery contained three brews; their Night Owl Pumpkin Ale, the Mr. Yuk Sour Pumpkin Beer and Chucky: A Killer Wit Beer. The latter is a collaboration with the SYFY series based around the star of the Child’s Play film franchise and features his Jon Gruden-esque mug front and center on the can.
Elysian also offered journalists the opportunity to do a virtual tasting with its founders, which was a nice touch. Here’s how each beer went down and whether or not you should seek them out here in the tail end of the spooky season.
Night Owl: B
You do get the ale undertones, providing a little bitter balance to the sweet pumpkin aroma that comes off the top. You also get that cinnamon, pie crust flavor if you sniff hard enough. Pumpkin beers are always a difficult balance — see September’s review of Sam Adams’ Jack-O — but this walks that fine line to present a very drinkable beer.
The beer itself also folds a roasted seed taste into the mix. This adds a little bit more of that bready, ale-ish taste to balance with the spice of the cinnamon and nutmeg.
It’s not my favorite pumpkin beer, but I could go back for more.
Mr. Yuk: B+
It’s also a sour, which … hooo buddy, I have concerns about. Sours are solid enough when done right, but one minor misstep and you’re drinking a big glass of stomach bile. I’d prefer not to drink a pint of that hot mouth feeling you get before you puke.
Brewer Dan-O maintains this is the ideal of an unspiced pumpkin flavor, which isn’t something I’m used to. Ah damn he also says the journalists during the tasting got the only bottles of it. Does that explain why it’s so fancy? Is Elysian trying to impress me? Guys, it doesn’t take much. My ideal beer is Stroh’s.
Let’s see if this gourd shines on its own or if I’ve been smart to dabble solely in pumpkin spice all these years.
It pours very light with all the carbonation the Night Owl left behind. It smells like a sour, though not overwhelmingly so; the pumpkin is very subtle, but it does feel like it’s there.
It’s much lighter than the 7.4 percent ABV suggests. The jaw-stinging sour taste — think the feeling you get when you bite down on a lime piece of Runts candy — isn’t there either. The tartness snaps it off a bit at the end, giving it a dry taste that maybe isn’t super crisp or clean but is memorable in a good way.
I like it, which is not where I expected to end up when I read the label. Like Night Owl, it’s a beer I could do two or more of in a single sitting. That’s rare for a pumpkin beer and EXTREMELY rare for a sour. This beer isn’t my style, but it’s well done and appealing.
Chucky Killer Wit: C-
That cranberry bitterness takes over and dominates this wit beer. There’s no pumpkin spice that shines through; a little bit of gourd and berries that makes for an interesting drink but not one that really appeals to me. It’s smooth but the flavor is a mix of two earthy, bitter flavors.
I didn’t expect a witbier to have less replay value than a sour, but that’s where we landed. It starts out welcoming and nice and kinda … leaves a stale fart taste behind? OK, fart is probably too strong a descriptor, but that sudden tart finish is a problem. There’s a very abrupt end to each sip, and I guess starting pleasant and ending poorly is pretty on-brand for the Child’s Play collaboration.
Well, bummer. I really wanted to like this, too.
