Bear Republic Crazy Ivan

Draught at the Parish Publick House. The bartender only knew that this was a strong ale from Bear Republic, so I had no idea of the makeup until after I finished and another bartender informed me of the wort mixing and Belgian yeast. It was a red-brown color with a creamy, lasting head that almost grew out of the glass for the first couple of minutes. The aroma was very fruity with lots of peach coming through. I attributed this to the hops, but the Belgian yeast seems like just as likely a candidate, There was also a nice caramelized sugar and light pine quality to the aroma. The flavor had less bitterness than the aroma cautioned, with lots of fruity hops and yeast esters of peach and orange. Bitterness was there, but not too much considering the worts that went into this. Medium bodied with ample but airy carbonation. Rich caramel and toasty malt, but not very sweet or heavy on the malt. This seemed more like an interesting ASA to me. You really would never find a Belgian beer quite like this. Very nice stuff overall, and a nice surprise.

tap. hazy deep copper pour with moderate frothy head. hoppy citrus with light spice and yeast in aroma. rich full body. caramel, floral, yeast. strong.

Nothing to this beer at all. Very blah. Aroma is sweet but nothing interesting. Flavor beligan

On draft at ACBF09. Pours brown with a small head. Aroma of yeast and melon rind. Flavor sweet malt, melon, yeast, some roasted notes. This is pretty much all-Belgian to me. Maybe a touch of hops in the finish, but only a touch as the Belgian yeast dominates. Sticky palate. I was disappointed by this one. 6/4/7/4/14 (3.5/5)

On tap at Falling Rock poured a clear dark amber with a small lingering amber head. Aromas of orange, carmel, pine and some floral notes. Palate was medium bodied and smooth. Flavors of burnt carmel, orange, floral and herbal notes with a smooth lingering moderatly bitter finish.

Draft at Two Brothers’ Hop Juice release. I got to the party an hour before closing, and this was the last guest beer still pouring. I had forgotten what it was "supposed" to be, so I took it as some blend between a barley wine and a Russian stout. Y’know: "Ivan?" As that, I found it fascinating. In that dark outdoor area, I could still see it was a mahogany brown, with highlights through the plastic cup. Smell of northwestern hops, but not at hop-head levels. My friend who still goes for malty beers, decided this was much to his taste. So notes of darker roast malts among caramels, the reason I thought this was a milder barley wine. Certainly not as alcoholic as I’d thought. Instead, a good walking around beer before settling in for brats.

9 oz draft courtesy of the TB Hop Juice release (Warrenville, IL). Last guest beer of the night. Pours a nice very dark amber, brown pouring into the body, more gold around the edges, hazy, small white head that dissipates to a film. Aromas are belgian yeast, hoppy with good citrus. A very nice blend. Sweet yet bitter. Initial throws some heavy belgian yeast, malt, lemony citrus hops. Very interesting, not throwing typical bitterness above body, which is decent, but emphasizes a belgian yeast above anything else. Lemon and honey in the body, it appears the lemon takes dominance in the hops, over most else, but belgian yeast overtakes it by a lot. Interesting, tasty for sure. Just not the typical IPA. I definitely feel it being a solid brew, belgian pushing lemony hops over the top of a fantastic Belgian beer. This is very good.

Draft @ Falling Rock. Strange nose resembles horseradish and juniper, that’s the peppery/spicy character of the yeast as least. Deep red color with an off-white head. Somewhat thick, very syrupy, moderately full. Caramel malt is overbearing, soggy, bready, overly sweet, and doesn’t seem to work very well with the yeast strain. Interesting enough.