BeerBorg

Last November while at an SEC game, I happen to come upon an Elysian Spacedust bomber and it tasted great! I have no idea how it got to Mississippi but figured it was a one off. Last night while at a local tavern, they had some on draft. Not sure if it's here for good or not but I doubt it as it appears no one else is carrying it in any form. I know AB bought them last year so I grabbed a pint to try and was not disappointed. It was great....fresh, and my kind of IPA even at 8.2%. RedBEERd grabbed too because he's superior.
It wasn't heavy at all for 8.2%, had no alcohol burn and the bittering up front was perfect! It finished clean and warm even more enjoyable as it warmed up. The place we went to always serves their beer too cold for my liking anyway.
The hops of Chinook, Citra and Amarillo work perfectly together to give enough nose to know it's semi-dank but not too much to take it away from being a West Coast IPA. No orange juice in this beer!
I hope it's here to stay because it would be something I keep in my fridge.

Agreed. IT was actually very balanced, not a hop bomb of assault (not that there's anything wrong with that). no burn at all from the 8.2% and an unexpected smooth finish. Maybe it was a fresh keg. But I'd drink that regularly on tap if I could.

I had a Spacedust a couple of weeks ago on vacation. I normally don't really like IPAs (the only category I have ever said I don't want to judge, twice for different reasons), but this time it was the most interesting of the restaurant's choices. I really liked this one!

That's interesting, Foothiller. I say this because I was a bit surprised at how much it wasn't like the avg IPA......some overly bitter even for my hopitude. And I found it more balanced than many and really smooth with no bite for an 8% beer.

I'll need to try it again because I need to make sure I wasn't just judging it on a good night, with good company etc. Sometimes the place and attitude might make things a bit more than they are.

I do like some IPAs, and Spacedust was one of the positives. Being balanced and avoiding harsh bitterness are the keys for me, while having the definite hop presence that IPAs should have.

RedBEERd wrote:I'll need to try it again because I need to make sure I wasn't just judging it on a good night, with good company etc. Sometimes the place and attitude might make things a bit more than they are.

This is a great point and one I try to remember when testing new beers, too.
My attitude, what I'm eating, my mood, etc. all impact how I perceive a beer. So, when I rate things in Untappd (which I use less for the social aspect and more for own personal cloud tracking of what I've tasted and liked/disliked) I try to note where I am. That way, if I gave something a bad rating but was at a beer festival or something else, I can consider that maybe my taste buds were fried, I was having a shitty day, etc.

Just heard that starting next week, Elysian is in the NOLA area. Guess that's a semi-good thing that happened thanks to AB buying them last year. Now lets see if their beer starts to suck after they are shipping all over the US>

I can tell you that after MillerCoors bought Saint Archer I had the same concern, but to-date it's still fantastic.

So it seems that only kegs are here for the next few months and it will be 3 months or more before bottles make their way here. Not sure that's the best way to get your name out there but I'll patiently wait.