Trip V
Elysian Brewing Company

 

On tap @ the Tap House Grill in Downtown Seattle.

The bartender warned me that this was more of a "dessert beer" but I went ahead with it anyway. I had no clue about the ingredients or what the two breweries were going for other than Belgian Dark, so here's my take:

The beer looks nice in the tulip. It's a deep brown color with little head and some black and crimson notes circulating in the glass. There's next to no lace, but the color isn't horrible.

The smell is where this gets interesting. I immediately get caramel, chocolate and cherry with a bit of madagascar vanilla bean wafting in from time to time. The overall impression is sweet but pleasant, without the yeasty esters or Belgian malt flavors I normally associate with a Belgian dark.

The taste is also just above the "average" although the unique approach means, by default, this beer isn't shooting for the normal BSDA sweet spot. There's a ton of milk chocolate and caramel, some dark bakers chocolate, cherry cordial and some mild vanilla touches too. A slight tart edge fades into a sea of underattenuation. This is easily one of the sweetest beers I've ever had. Overall, this tastes unique but is nothing too far above an average result.

The mouthfeel is where this beer literally fell flat. It's got a very low level of carbonation considering the sugary viscosity. This really hurt the overall experience, as the inevitable comparison to cough syrup emerged. To me, it sounds like this beer was an inspired idea, but I think I expected a bit more. Overall, I would have this again with the right pairing, but I think it's more up the sweettooth's alley.

A: Poured a dark, murkey reddish color witg ok carbonation and a small white head

S: Some cherry, Belgian yeast

T: A sourish cherry blast with some other stuff liongering around, perhaps some wood

M: Sour and just plain..noy good

D: Ummm, I had to choke it down and this can not be a Belgian Strong??? Avoid

It appears to be a dark mahogany color with a two finger brownish head. It smells slightly of caramel chocolate, vanilla, cherry like flavor. The taste has a melody of coco flavor, slightly sweet slight tart cherries and French vanilla. There is a slight malty toasty flavor present as well. The flavors blend nicely and almost taste like a slightly sweet milkshake. Elysian and New Belgian did a good job adding cherries, vanilla and coco to this beer without making it overly sweet.

A nice beer if you feel like a unique slightly sweet cherry and vanilla flavored beer. I have to say the categorization of this beer is dead wrong. It's somewhere between a fruit ale and a spiced ale.

I'd say what it's trying to be is some sort of Belgian Strong Dark Ale? I know not the percentage, but it is either something like that or an American wild that didn't pucker enough. Me thinks the former.

Pour is dark amber, brownish and mineral clear.
I've had this before and tried my f'ing best to cull the good things from the mediocrity it best inhabits...
Cherry sweetness, a bit of NyQuil, a very, very subtle tartness, and a wholly disappointing beverage. Of the Five, this is by far the worst.
And I kinda like it when I first tried it. Maybe it is all a mindgame, and its just a moodtype beverage.

The bartender who poured this didn't know what style it was, and I couldn't say with any certainty, and NB's website didn't list it, so the style entry here is probably wrong. Please correct it.

Served in pint goblet. Poured a very dark brown, call it mahogany. There was very little head, with low retention and lacing.

The aroma was mostly sweet malt, with perhaps some peaty or smoke notes. The taste had a mildly surprising tartness, with that sweet malt dominating the tongue.

The body was medium, neither heavy or light. Drinkability was OK, but I'm going to have to revisit this brew before making final decisions.