Elysian Bifröst Winter Ale

Brewed by Elysian Brewing Co.
Style: American Strong Ale
Seattle, Washington USA

Best by 10 Apr 09. Bomber. Citrus and caramel nose, heavy pine and nice, strong, sweaty must from the hops. Has some nice ESB character to boot. Pale orange pour with a rocky eggshell head. Taste is bittersweet, very woody with a rough, resin like start. Fresh-squeezed grapefruit rides the next wave in and quickly comes to dominate. Very, very floral with just a touch of earth, pine and juniper and gale. Light body is creamy and very smooth. Tea-like dryness and acidity in the after. Well-hidden alcohol and I drank this waaaay too fast - definitely hard to resist. Later stood up well to light food.

Draft @ Drafting Room Spring House. Aroma has some citrus and floral hops with darker, caramelly malt essence and some mild spice. Flavor has some medium hops, dry caramel malts, and spices. Better than most "holiday" ales,. but overall weaker than a typical "quality" hoppy beer.

22oz. Bottle: Aroma of hops, grapefruit, citrus, toasted malts, fruit, and milk. Poured deep gold/amber/orange in color with a small, creamy, white head that lasted throughout. Hazy and a bit cloudy. Sparkling. Tiny particles throughout. Very good lacing. Flavor is light to medium sweet. Tastes of malts, hops, citrus, light spices, toasting, caramel, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, yeast, and allspice. Medium body. Average texture. Average carbonation. Lightly sweet, spiced, toasted malt finish.

Amber with a huge creamy head. Bubbly lacings all the way to the bottom. Aroma is bready and citrus hops. Taste is bitter earthy hops with a good strong malt backbone. A bit fruity on the palate with a medium dry bitter finish. Would make a good session brew if it were closer to 6% abv. Alcohol was pretty well masked.

22oz from a gentleman on the other site. Thanks, Rick. Cloudy orange body promises a kind of earthen quality. But I was surprised by the lack of quotidian "winter spice" in the nose, and pleasantly so. Not that I dislike nutmeg and so forth, but I found it refreshing to sample a winter brew that actually wants to do something a bit different. The strongly hopped character was cool, not just because it was enjoyable in its own right, but because it summoned up flavors of spruce and pine that recall a different dimension of the season. Pleasantly bitter, long finish, an enjoyable beer.

22 oz. bottle. Pours a slightly hazy golden amber with a moderate yellow-white head that lasted through three-quarters of the glass and left a layer of lace with each sip all the way to the end. Pleasant aroma of malt, citrus and pine. The flavor is similar with malt up front followed by citrus and pine, with a bit more emphasis on the citrus. Bitter finish that does not linger. Not really what I think of in a winter ale, but tasty nonetheless.

Amber in color with a small lasting off white head. Aroma of earthy and citrus hops with small pale and biscuity malts. Taste is initially smooth with some earthy hops, light citrus, and pale, some toasted malts and munich. Body is full, and the finish has an earthy herbal bitterness. Decent.

22oz 08 bottle. Bright copper pour with grayish respectful head. nose is fresher hop and sharp malt. astringent harsh taste with lots of bittered hops and sweet smooth malts. very respectable but not my cup of tea.