Elysian Cyclops Barleywine
Cyclops is nearly all pale malt, with some crystal and Munich for color, bittered with English Magnum and finished with Northwest Amarillo and Centennial hops.
3.6
172 reviews
Seattle, United States
Community reviews
Bottle from Bottleworks, 2004. Pours dark amber with sediment. Smell is hazelnut caramel, an AMAZING smell. Taste strong caramel and some fudge. Sipper. Really good beer.
From tap at Brouwers. Pours cloudy orange with a small white head. Aroma is toasted malty, light vanilla and toasted caramelish. Bitter, hoppy and light fruity. Thick caramelish and sweet malty into nthe finish.
2011 on draft at brouwers. Aroma is soapy yet sweet. Taste is sweet followed by nice caramel notes and hops. Decent.
Draft T GABBF. Golden brown color, medium tan head, solid lacing. Aroma of strong and sweet caramel. Taste is similar. Straightforward.
2004 vintage tap at Elysian. Pours to a clean zinc penny body with a light coating white head. Aroma of light sweet barley and rounded out hops. Flavor is a nice sweet barley with lightly bitter pine hops and wood. Sweet sherry and oak. Palate is well rounded and hides the booze.
12 oz 2010 bottle from 5000. Nose is toffee, butterscotch, and floral/ citrusy hoppiness. Clear copper with a small off white head. Flavor is lightly bitter, lots of toffee and molasses, and just a slight hint of background butteriness.
Thanks to 5000 for sending me this beer. Cracked open to celebrate my Rangers going to the World Series.
The beer pours a brownish-amber color with a small white head. The aroma is very heavy on the brown sugar with some caramel and alcohol notes also mixed in. I also get a little bit of orange from the hops.
The flavor is more of the same. I get some extremely juicy orange citrus notes as well as a lot of brown sugar, toffee and caramel malt. The alcohol is definitely noticeable but the beer is still easy to drink.
Medium to thick mouthfeel and low carbonation.
12oz. Bottle: Aroma of malt, hops, light caramel, and light diacetyl. Poured amber/orange in color with a tiny tan head that disappeared quickly, except for around the edges. Cloudy. Not sparkling. Flavor is light to medium sweet and light to medium bitter. Tastes of malt, hops, caramel, diacetyl, slight wood, light resin, and slight caramel. Medium body. Slightly sticky, slightly viscous texture. Average carbonation. Lightly sweet, medium bitter, malt, hop, diacetyl finish is lightly dry. 9.85%ABV is completely hidden throughout.
3 oz. sample on tap at Brouwer’s Café for Hard Liver, pours golden orange. Aroma of citrus hops, tropical fruits and sweetness. Flavour of the tropical fruits, caramel and cotton candy – cloyingly sweet finish. Quite decent.
2010 vintage on draught at the 2011 Great Alaskan Beer & Barleywine Festival. Great hoppy aroma. Surprisingly well-merged flavors for a young brew. Nice underlying maltiness with a noticable alcohol presence and late alcohol heat. Very nice.
12oz bottle from Jim, it has been sitting in my fridge for most of the year. Pine, light citrus and molasses cookie dough aroma. Reddish color, slight haze, not a lot of visible carbonation, but I was being careful pouring it since there is a fair amount of settlement on the bottom of the bottle. Flavor is caramel, wood, pine with a warming alcoholic finish and lingering moderate bitterness and pine.
12oz bottle from Bottleworks in Seattle. Pours a murky dark yellow, bubbly white head that reduced to a thing ring. Interesting floral, caramel, alcohol aroma - very strong citrus. Flavour has strong alcohol at first, followed by some sweetness and citrus, then the alcohol kicks back in. Creamy but thin mouthfeel. Some strong hops in the finish. More boozy and less balanced than I like in a BW. Either needs ageing or refining.
West USA trip 2010. The aroma has caramel, raisin and citrus. Hazy, yellow-orange coloured beer with an off-white head. The taste is sweet, has hop bitterness, caramel malts, raisins. Good body. Nice one.
Bottle, via trade with scrizz, cloudy orange pour, thin foam, malty biscuit
and fruit aroma, flavor of malty, bread pudding, fruity, light finish
Draft @ Brouwer’s Hard Liver 8. Poured a golden yellow/copper with minimal off white head. The nose was a small amount of caramel and a decent amount of hops. The taste was pretty bland, diluted caramel malt and slight hops. This was my least favorite BW I tried at the barleywine fest. I love BW’s but not this one, never again Elysian.
@Toronado BWfest–on tap-pours an off white head that laces and amber color. Aroma is sweet medium malt-toffee. Taste is sweet medium malt-toffee/sugary, medium fruit, herbal hops bite.
Poured hazy dark amber, smooth, caramel malt, dark fruits, little hops, very balanced.
12 oz. bottle from Malt and Vine. Nice dark orange/ light brown appearance. Haze apperance. Not much head to speak of. Huge sweet caramel malt aroma. Not much in the way of hops, just a dominating caramel malt aroma. Caramel malts dominate to the point where I can’t smell anything else. Huge caramel malt aroma with a very light citrus hop flavor. Just very malty.Smooth palate.
Bottle from Malt & Vine. Likely quite fresh. Pours a ruddy copper with a slight off-white head. Aroma is quite malty/syrupy with just a touch of piney hop. Full bodied with mild carbonation. Flavor is pine over sweet caramel, along with lighter stone fruit. Nice. Finiishes more sweet than bitter. It has a very nice aftertaste.
Draft. Pours an amber copper body with an off white head. Salty malt character and caramel notes. Big etoh burn with some rotting fruit character and some salty apples. Eh.
Earthy, strong sweet caramel flavors. Apricot like fruit flavors also are present, with some bittering hops. The flavor is a lot more cloyingly sweet than I like, but there’s nothing terrible about it. I might have to give it another go later.
Bottle that I’ve been holding onto for a while. Smells of caramel, dark fruit, molasses, maple syrup, resiny. Tastes bitter and earthy with a dark fruity finish.
Slightly hazy copper and amber coloured body with a thinnish tan head. Aroma of caramel, toffee, raisins, fresh fruit, light malt and a bunch of alcohol - pretty nice! Full-bodied; Strong assertive hops up front then showing apricots, fruit and a bit of alcohol - all with some malt and toffee finishes. Aftertaste has a good balance - a lot of hops for the style and some good sweetness. Overall, a fairly nice and hoppy barley wine that shows off very well. I sampled this twelve ounce bottle purchased at Bottleworks in Seattle, Washington on 25-April-2009, sampled on 09-July-2009 at home in the real Washington [dc].
Bottle from Secret Santa. Thanks, St. Nick! Pours a decent but not-quite-thick-enough-for-my-taste amber, with a quickly descending head of white. Aroma is a strong rush of bready raisin topped with a creme of malted raspberries and subtle peach. Flavor is a bit subdued, considering the ABV and the rather intense nose. Notes of passive plumb and raisin bread, with a quick flash of Isopryl alcohol round out the flavors. Decent mouthfeel. Not a bad barleywine, just wish it were a tad more dominant on my taste buds.
Bottle shared by wagenvolks. Thanks! Pours copper with short lived head. Smell is hoppy and tea like and crystal malt. Taste is the same. Solid bitterness and hop presence with strong iced tea flavor. Pretty solid, but nothing amazing.
Nicely hopped barleywine, 2007 edition The aroma is rich malts and barley, the appearance is a golden-brown with some white halo head, and spider lacing follows. The hops were magnum, amarillo, and centennial. Ageing lead to a nice mouthfeel, most drinkable, with a citrus undercurrent and finish.Overall, bitterness.
12oz bottle from ’07, courtesy of riversideAK - thanks, Alex (and nice Dio pic)! Hazy copper pour, with an appealing cloudiness that promises just the type of BW I’m in the mood for, a sharp hoppy bastard with malts to age. Sweetish nose but still some potent grassy hops even with a considerable bit of age on this one. Full bodied, prickly carb, and even some heat remaining. Caramel malts are there, but they don’t dominate. A nice dry finish to this one makes it a bit distinctive. Another good brew from a still under-heralded brewery.
12 oz. bottle via trade with scrizzz - Pours a hazy amber color with a thin off white head. Faint spotty lacing and light carbonation. Aroma is fruity and floral. Flavor is fruity and sweet toasted malt. Medium to full body. Alcohol is noticeable in the finish. A solid BW. Thanks Clint.
On tap at Pike Street location. The last beer that I tried here. Aroma was quite floral with a good dose of caramel in the background. Amberish in color. Flavor was smooth and floral. Pretty bitter for the style. Some caramel and bread to provide just a touch of balance.
Thanks to BVC for this bottle. I’m not sure on the vintage, but this is an outstanding barleywine. Deep amber in color, good clarity with a soft fast falling beige head. Big caramel nose, notes of cherry, toffee, and rum raisin cake. Chewy body with a balanced finish. Hops have subdued, proving just a soft hop flavor, more just pushing bitterness to keep it from being cloying. Excellent overall, better then the 06 version I tried at the Hard Liver fest.