Great Divide Old Ruffian

Sampled from 22 oz bottle. Hazy brown pour shows a little head for once. Smell shows brown sugar and sherry (that word again!). Not much alcohol heat for such a strong beer. This may be a cellareed bottle, it shows a less pronounced hop blact, in fact, closer to an english barley wine. Finish is a bit too bitter.

Pour is a brown with a very large tan head. Aroma is very up front with the hops but also has a smooth caramel malt that hides in the backround. Flavor is syurpy sweet at first then comes the caramel malts and finally POW the heavy dose of alcohol. Finish is smooth and has a lingering flavor. A very good spot on barley wine.

Pours an orangeish red color with a lot of very nice head. Very fresh scent, full of hops and citrus, as well as some floral and pine. Also, maybe a little sweeter tones, like brown sugar or caramel. Very bold, up-front flavor filled with its floral hops, but the malt comes through very nicely and finishing with an alcoholic tinge. The beer seemed to cover the inside of my mouth and stay there. This was a very nice beer.

Pours a cloudy orange color with some ruby tones into the snifter. There was a quick inch of white head and a ring of sticky lacing. The scent was very hoppy and fresh with some fresh fruit, alcohol and caramel. Initially there is a bold, spicey hop flavor with some malt, honey and fruit in the middle. A very strong alcohol presence is apparent in the finish. Very sticky and coating mouthfeel with a warming burn. A nice after dinner drink to drop in the snifter.

Very good, and I don’t even like barleywine. The aroma is yeasty and fruity, hints of raisin and brown sugar. The flavor is delicate maltiness at first building up to bitterness and alcohol in the aftertaste. The transition is smooth and not abrupt as I feared. I’m definitely going to buy more of this.

bottled, Ölbaren, copenhagen. steady brown colour, aroma of vanilla and toffee, warming, biscuity, caramel, plenty of bitterness, mellow texture, decent drinking

Bottle (pint) shared with three dudes at Tre små rum, Göteborg, Sweden. Wonderful reddish brown colour with a creamy off-white head. Intense fruity and caramelly malt aroma with aggressive piney and floral hops. Medium bodied and smooth, good balance with a long bitterness.

draft @ the brewery. Hoppy spicy caramel on the nose. Pours rich dark amber. Rich malts, molasses flavors, with a heft hop flavor. Good barley wine!