Monday 27th June 2011
Bob ThompsonThis pub is quite close to King Street station but more pertinently, right by two enormous stadia, the Century Link Stadium (formerly the Qwest Stadium), which is home to the Seattle Seahawks (NFL American football) and also the Seattle Sounders, who play a version of football that is much better known to us in Europe. They operate in the MSL (Major Soccer League). Right next door is Safeco Field where the Seattle Mariners play Major League Baseball.
An interesting fact about these stadia is that they are all-weather venues and the retractable roofs, when not in use, are parked above the main line railway running south out of Seattle, see photo above, seen from a train passing below.
All the above means that the Elysian Fields at 542 1st Avenue S, is extremely busy on match days. However it does have 400 seats. I wonder how many extra standees manage to crowd in here when there's a game on. As a matter of interest I have been told that the original Elysian Fields, which are in New Jersey, were where the first League Baseball game was played in the USA.The range of beers in this location is broadly similar to that in the Elysian Capitol Hill that I visited earlier as both pubs feature beers from the other brewery. This, of course, makes it difficult to state definitively where a particular beer comes from.
As far as this pub is concerned the following is how I discerned the provenance of the beers. From Elysian Fields: Loki Lager (5.6%) (Dortmunder style), Dragon's Tooth Stout (7.4%), Akhnaten Fertile Delta Farmhouse Ale (7.0%), Hydra Hefeweizen (4.2%), Laser Pale Ale (4.8%), Avatar Jasmine IPA (6.3%), Daedelus Irish Stout (4.7%), Bête Blanche (6.9%) (Belgian style Trippel), White Woods Wit (5.2%).
From the Elysian Capitol Hill brewpub: The Immortal IPA (6.3%), Perseus Porter (5.4%), The Wise ESB (5.9%), Prometheus IPA (6.7%), The Golden Boot (5.0%) (Golden Ale), Elysian Pale Ale (4.8%), Slight Return (3.1%) and The Men's Room Original Red (5.6%).
Avatar Jasmine IPA was one of two cask beer offerings, I had a pint. It was totally superb, no hint of Jasmine.
Important Information:
Elysian Fields, 542 Ist Avenue S, Seattle, WA. 98104. Tel: 206 382 4498
Open: Monday to Friday 11.00-23.00; Saturday and Sunday 11.30-23.00
Times can vary according to sporting and other events at the two stadia close by.
The pub is five minutes away from King Street Station which hosts Amtrak trains to many places on the West coast including Vancouver (Canada) and Portland on the Cascade services. Other rail connections are to Sacramento, Oakland (San Francisco) and Los Angeles via the Coast Starlight train as well as Chicago via the Empire Builder train.
The station also handles the Sounder commuter trains to Tacoma and Everett.
On the other side of this station is International District station that is the beginning of the remarkable Downtown Transit Tunnel through which Central Link rapid transit trains to and from SeaTac Airport operate along with many bus routes with the vehicles operating on battery power.
Above ground are also many other buses and several electric trolley bus routes.