Great Divide Old Ruffian

Brewed by Great Divide Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Denver, Colorado USA

From a 1 pint 6 oz. bottle poured a sublime copper colour with a light tan 1 inch head. This Barley Wine was surprisingly flavourful with a crisp and clean mouthfeel and mellow follow through that belies a plus 10 percent alcohol by volume. Strong hop finish...are we sure this shouldn’t labeled an Imperial IPA? I’ll be putting this one in the rotation.

Pours a murky dark red/copper with very little head. Quite sweet on the nose and tongue from the caramel malts, but mixed nicely with the hops for some bitterness. Creamy, and a little sticky on the mouthfeel. Finishes relatively dry considering what it’s like up front.. Alcohol taste is completely hidden, but this one can knock you out! Couldn’t finish the bomber or write a review on night #1 with ’Ol Ruffian due to it’s effects, and am instead having to do so tonight with the leftovers...

1 pint 6 ounce bottle picked up by soccer290. Thanks! Poured a cloudy deep orange color with a wonderful one finger width brownish head. The aroma consisted of a lot of hops with hints of sweetness in the background. The taste was a lot of hops with citrus hints in the background. It had a medium mouthfeel and left a very nice hoppy taste in the back of my mouth. A very tasty beer! I would definitely seek this one out again!

not as hop-forward as i expected from the lable on the bottle. tasty, a little fruity in the nose. not overly alcoholic.

Sampled at the Arizona Craft Brewers Guild 2008 Strong Beer Fest, on February 17, at the Mesa Amphitheatre. Great!

Big sniffer of this at the Mad Mex in Robinson. Typical alarmingly sweet barley wine aroma. Dark with a big creamy head. Large, strong and over the top. Rude crude and indescribably terrible. Perfect for it’s style. Reminds me of whiskey laced beer. Bitter malty alky medicinal linger.

This beer pours a dark brown, complimented heavily by a deep, burnt orange color. There is a solid quarter inch of foam despite a gentle pour and the ABV. The smell is of sweet malt, followed by heavy hops. The taste follows the smell, consisting of caramel malt followed by piney, citrus infused hops. The mouthfeel is nice, with proper carbonation. I find the drinkability of this beer to be strangely low for me. I can usually drink big beers all night, but one bomber is enough of this in one night for me.

Bottle. Poured a deep garnet-amber color with a thick, rocky off-white head that diminished slowly and left nice lacing. Aroma of sweet malts and some flowery, piney hops. Semi-sweet caramel malt entry quickly gives way to a semi-bitter, piney, flowery hop flavor that sweetens out a bit in the finish. Relatively smooth until the finish, where the hops begin to dry the palate and bit the tongue a bit. Pretty nice, don’t detect much alcohol.