Elysian was founded in 1995 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.[1] Buhler is a former spirits wholesaler and Bisacca was a home brewer and a vice president at Seafirst Bank. The original location was opened in 1996 in the Capitol Hill neighborhood with a 20 barrel capacity.[2]
The company operated a brewpub at the local GameWorks arcade between 1997 and 2002. In 2003, their pub and bistro, Tangletown, was opened near Green Lake.[3] The company's largest location, Elysian Fields, was opened in 2006 near CenturyLink Field, which is often busy on game days.[4]
In 2011, Elysian expanded its operations with a 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m2) production-only facility in the Georgetown neighborhood.[5][6]
Anheuser-Busch InBev acquired Elysian Brewing in early 2015.
Elysian Brewing Company brews many beers, which are only available at their brewpub and restaurant or are sometimes seasonally available on tap in some Seattle pubs. These include The Golden Boot, brewed in honor of Seattle soccer; Haleakala, named after Maui's easterly volcano; Hombre, a Mexican-style lager, brewed as a house beer for a local Mexican restaurant; and Xoxo, a nitrogen-infused, chocolate, chilli-spiced Irish-style stout often brewed around Valentine's Day.[10]
The Wise ESB was the brewery's first beer. Elysian has won multiple awards for their beers. The Wise, Dragontooth stout, and Avatar Jasmine IPA have done well at the World Beer Cup.[11] The brewery's beers earned it the Large Brewpub of the Year award at the Great American Beer Festival in 1999, 2003, and 2004.[12]
The brewery also partners with The Mens Room [sic] (a program on the Seattle rock music radio station KISW) to produce Mens Room Original Ale;[14] previous offerings include Mens Room Red and Mens Room Gold. [15]
^Higgins, Patrick; Kilgore, Maura Kate; Hertlein, Paul (1998). Secrets from the Master Brewers: America's Top Professional Brewers Share Recipes and Tips for Great Homebrewing. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 56–58. ISBN978-0-684-84190-8.
^McFarland, Ben (2009). World's Best Beers: One Thousand Craft Brews from Cask to Glass. New York: Sterling Publishing Company. p. 186. ISBN978-1-4027-6694-7.
^Morrison, Lisa M. (2011). Craft Beers of the Pacific Northwest: A Beer Lover's Guide to Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. Portland: Timber Press. pp. 98–99. ISBN978-1-60469-089-7.
^Jones, Kendall; Borg, Shannon; Seattle Magazine Staff (October 2011). "Seattle's Macro Microbreweries". Seattle Magazine. Archived from the original on September 19, 2012. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
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