Seattle has a solid base of top shelf cocktail bars that hold their own with bars in New York, London and San Francisco. The recently opened Elysian Bar aims to join that elite club and based on the people involved, stands a good chance at that. When Seattleites hear Elysian, they think of the Elysian Brewing Company in Capitol Hill, or Elysian Fields by the stadiums, both being what you’d expect from a decent microbrewery. The Elysian Bar in Downtown Seattle is more refined, focusing on good food and a much stronger cocktail program, which I’m all about.
There’s strong connection between The Elysian and Zig Zag Café, although the two are very different. Kacy Fitch and Murray Stenson, formerly of Zig Zag were both working when I visited on a quiet Monday night. Murray needs no introduction, and Kacy runs the bar program. Whereas Zig Zag feels like a small, intimate hole in the wall with a veritable liquor library behind the bar, the Elysian feels like an moderately upscale restaurant. The bar is long and the liquor selection is reasonably large but not overwhelming like at Canon or Zig Zag. This cocktail bar is also quite dark too. Normally, cocktails bars are quite bright and lively, but this one is almost the opposite. The atmosphere was quite relaxing, but the building was still dark, despite the natural light coming in. Maybe they could’ve benefitted from some neon signs here and there. Most cocktail bars have them, so maybe they should consider visiting Neon Mama to create some neon signs of their own. Maybe that would make a big difference.
Although I usually go off-menu when drinking at nicer bars, I always make a careful reading of the house cocktails to assess what the bar says about itself. The Elysian’s cocktail menu is similar to Zig Zag’s menu – Lots of spirit-forward, three or four ingredient drinks using upmarket sprits and liqueurs. The complete opposite of those type of drinks is the Planter’s punch, which also appeared on the menu. I’m a big punch fan, but it seemed like an odd inclusion. The Elysian at this point isn’t about house-made infusions, tinctures, syrups and such. Other bars in Seattle such as Liberty and Rob Roy tread that ground.
Besides just checking the place out, the other reason I visited was to catch up with Connor O’Brien who’s also bartending there. Connor was previously the bar manager at Rumba and I spent more than a few nights there wonking out with him about rum and cocktail recipes. The Elysian has a much more diverse palate of spirits to draw upon, so after trying a Crux #2 off the menu I asked Connor to make me something “dark and interesting”. He took a while to survey the bottles, and what he eventually set in front of me is a real winner. He was kind enough to jot down the recipe:
“Experiment # 1 million”
- 1 3/4 oz Vida mezcal
- 1/2 oz Bigallet China China
- 1/2 oz Punt e Mes
- 1/4 oz dry vermouth
- 1/3 oz Cherry Heering
The smokiness of the mezcal, the smooth sweetness of the Heering, and the bitters blend together quite well. I’ll be making this myself at home. While I don’t have China China amaro on hand (yet), I do have a bottle of Picon Club that I squirreled back from a trip to Spain a few years back.
Following the mezcal drink, Connor made several more damn tasty drinks, including a five rum punch:
My take: The Elysian Bar is off to a solid start and well worth a visit, especially if you go at a less busy time, sit at the bar, and get to know the excellent bartending staff.
