HISTORY
The Elysian was founded in 1995 by principals Dick Cantwell, Joe Bisacca and David Buhler. Our first Seattle location, a 220-seat beer hall and our main brewery, opened in 1996 on Capitol Hill, Seattle’s most populous neighborhood. In 1997 Elysian was chosen to operate a pub and small brewery at Gameworks—a large entertainment complex owned by Universal Studios, Dreamworks & Sega. Elysian left this partnership in 2002 upon expiration of the five-year contract. A short year later Elysian opened TangleTown, an 80-seat neighborhood brewery/bistro. With a 3-bbl pilot brewery, Elysian-TangleTown acted as the brewers’ test kitchen, fueling the creative fires and helping cement Elysian’s reputation as Seattle’s top brewpub. The most recent addition to the Elysian empire, Elysian Fields, opened in August 2006. Perched next to Seattle’s two sports arenas, Fields seats 400 and packs the house at lunch and on gamedays. It is typical for us to offer over twenty different Elysian beers between the three locations.
From our very first day, when we poured the beers of each of the breweries we had all worked at in the past alongside our own beer, Elysian has honored the efforts of other brewers and brewing cultures. Uniquely among brewpubs, we have offered rare German and Belgian beers at our own taps along with those of our friends, some of whom at times have joined us to brew special commemorative beers. In a way our collaboration with New Belgium is a development of this spirit of fun and mutual respect. From 2008 to early 2011 we were able to produce large batches of our Immortal IPA and seasonal specialties at the New Belgium facility in Fort Collins, and New Belgium’s brewers would produce small-batch, experimental beers in their “Trip” series at our Capitol Hill brewery. In fall 2011, we opened our new production brewery in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood, allowing us to bring all our brewing back to our hometown. Despite this change, The Trip series and the spirit of collaboration continue on. We look forward to further growth and innovation in our brewing adventures as we devise not only new and interesting beers, but a new and interesting future for the craft brewing industry.
Tasting at Uptown Market on Thursday, June 11th, from 5pm-8pm
