Great Divide Old Ruffian

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

Pours dark brownish red with light brown head that dosen’t hang arond too long, the aroma was damn good. Dosen’t lack in any of the taste,palate, appearance and aroma departments. very well rounded barley wine style beer. The only thing i could find wrong, was its "price"...other than that..."great job"....Great Divide..

I am really enjoying this one. The malt is almost over powering. Definitely a sipper. Thick, malty, and really not too hoppy. A beer lover’s alternative to wine. I do think, though, that I prefer Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot barleywine.

Bomber: Big on hops aroma, with a plum texture too caramel malts nicely mixed with some pine needles and grapefruit. Appearance is a muddy reddish/orange with a medium sized tan head that lasts. Flavor consists of bitter malt notes, with another big hop notes nice warming brew. The caramel and some toffee come through with this brew. Overall, a decent barley wine. It’s not my favorite for this style but definitely drinkable.

Bottle. brown color. Red berries, malt and cascade hops in the aroma. Hint of cinnamon. Malty sweet flavor with flowery and earthy hops, citrus and raspberry. Warming alcohol, reasonably well hidden. A taste bomb that is still pretty well balanced.

a caramel and roasted malt nose was was surprising for its hot, smokey, biting flavor. the mouthfeel was very active and was nice and heavy, yet no overbearing. quite a nice barley wine. on tap @ rich o’s gravityhead ’07.

From a 22oz Bottle. Pours a mostly hazy dark coppery amber color with some late fall harvest apple skin ruddy hues and a thin layer of creamy off-white head. Lots of interesting sweet and spicy malt characters going on in the aroma; I’m getting whiffs of deep caramel, cinnimon spice, vanilla, jaggery sugar, and a hint of mace. The caramel character seems to be really deep and complex, and is one of the most pleasant vanilla caramel malt characters I can remember smelling in a beer. Some fainter scents of pine and red grapefruit zest hops spice it up a bit more; I wish I knew what vintage this bottle was. Full bodied, creamy mouthfeel with a soft carbonation. Very nice balance between the caramel malts and the hops, with a little bit of malty spiciness in there for good measure. Well carbonated without any detectable notes of oxidation; alcohol seems to be well hidden as well. The balance between hops and malts seem to be right on too, which again, makes me wonder the vintage of this one; it certainly doesn’t taste like 90 IBUs. Either way, I’m enjoying it immensely, so back to my beer. Heavy caramels, vanilla, toffee, and even a bit of dry tobacco start off the palate, and are balanced by an herbal hoppiness that keeps growing in presence until the finish, where it leaves a pleasant and not-overbearing piney final smack to balance out some of the malt sweetness.

Thanks to Dansting for sending me this bottle. Aroma that first hit me was some wet paper. I’m thinking oxidation, but sometimes that’s a character in b/w’s. So I dig a bit deeper and there’s clear cut caramel, and a piney hop character that is incredibly balanced. Appearance is a soft brown, cloudy with a khaki 2-finger head. Mouthfeel is creamy, thick and sticky. Flavors were nice with a strong balance between caramel and piney hops. It was a bit two-dimensional for me to get any higher marks in flavor. It was nice, but nothing to set it apart. Money well worth spending if you can find it.

Honey Orange with Brown Hues..Mocha Cream Head. Creamy, Heavy Mouthfeel. Some Sweet Barley Notes...Very Hoppy Barleywine...Balanced Out Pretty Well but Hopped in the Great Divide Way. Fairly Simple Beer on the Mystery Side of Things...but Still a Nice Example of the Styel.