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.