Great Divide Old Ruffian

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

Pours a darker golden reddish color with a small amount of head. I think the initial pour may have been a bit too cool so let it warm up a tad bit. Full bodied beer, absolutely wonderful! On the aroma I get hops and more hops but also very sweet malts there as well. On the palate I get hops upfront with a very strong and sweet malt flavor. Some alcohol in there as well but considering the high abv it hides it from the drinker. Get it!

The aroma is very sweet with a few hints of the hoppy bitterness to come. There is very nice lacing and very soft carbonation for this high gravity ale. The initial flavor is very sweet but on the aftertaste the piney hop profile comes through. The 10% alcohol is hidden quite well. This is definitely one of the hoppiest barley wines I’ve ever had.

650 mL into snifter. Pours a clear amber/copper with a two-finger, off-white head that doesn’t leave much lacing but who cares really on a barleywine. Aroma is strawberries, caramel, apples, piney hops, a touch of whiskey. Taste is similar: lots of light fruits with a caramel malt backbone but a large piney hop presence. Very well balanced. Usually these finish with a sort of cardboard dryness but this finishes clean with a spicy alcohol bite. 90 IBUs are well hidden from the fruit and malty flavors, 10% is well hidden as well. This was very good.

Pours copper with a thin off white head. Smells of molasses, fruit, earthy, caramel. Tastes boozy and spicy with some toffee and honey on the finish.

A pretty solid nose with a nice white frothy head. A little sweet, but it is a barley wine. Great with a little age on it. Overall pretty nice.

Pours a deep copper with a thin tan head. Leaves gobs of lacing. Aroma is sweet, lots of caramel, vanilla, and pine. Taste is smooth, fair amount of heat, not too much. Citrus and pine from the hops, not as hoppy as expected, but very bright hop notes, smooth sweetness, not candy like. toffee, caramel, berries, grapefruit, Slightly chewy.

1. On Tap at the Great Divide Brewing Company, Denver 12/10/2007 Lots of fruit aroma. Amber mid brown coloured and very strong in alcohol with a crisp dry and bitter lasting malt finish. 2. Cask Stillage from the Jug at the Denver Rare Beer Tasting, Wynkoop Brewery 25/09/2009 (2008 Vintage) Big fruit and hop aromas. Small white head. Amber coloured very strong in alcohol and fruity with a little dryness in a crisp and bitter malt finish.

Intense copper color with a marvelous living head. Heavy caramel malt in the aroma with hops in the background. The flavor is good, but the best part is the palate how it starts off dry and a little bitter and has a small tingle with a a short but powerful carbonation. It’s got some very nice clean oak taste to it too. The haevy malt is well balanced by the intense hops. It comes in pretty tame at 10+% and highly tolerable. The finish is pleasant. Sip this and good times will follow...