Great Divide Old Ruffian

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

22oz Bottle: Deep hazy amber pour with a thick creamy tan head, well sustained and sporatic lacing. Powerful aroma. Full of Hops, fruity notes of berries and a minty character. The flavor has an extremely robust bitterness. It’s dominated by a mint character. Plenty of candy malt and pines. The malt is detected, but the hops definitly need time to mellow. Overall it’s devoured by abrasive, minty hops, and has a long, extremely bitter finish full of pine. This is an extremely well-made Barley Wine that will improve vastly with age. Reminds me a bit of a younger Old Crustacean. I’ll have to revisit this in a few years.

22 oz bomber all to myself. I opened this one in celebration of a nice promotion and pay raise at work. An excellent beer to match an excellent day! Served in my St. Bernardus goblet. Pours dark orange with a small tan head and some lacing. Looks good. Aroma is a pleasant caramel malt and piney hops. Flavor is a real mouthful with the sweet caramel malt initially, followed by a huge resinous hop blast and strong bitter finish and aftertaste. Its delicious. This is a really excellent barleywine. An excellent alcohol kick is buried in all that flavor. Wow! A first-class effort by Great Divide. $4.99 at Total Wine.

2006 bomber. Pours a translucent ruby amber with a large creamy off white head that left tons of lacing. Great looking BW. Great orange aroma (Tang), candy sweetness, tropical fruits, hints of dark fruits, caramel, pine, some vanilla. Flavor is full on hops, great hop bitterness and loads of malt sweetness. Sweetness on the sticky side, but not something I really get turned off with in a BW. I could see how aging this more could mellow it out, but I enjoy the hoppiness that this one had while still on the young side.

Tap. Pours a dark copper color with a decent sized beigew colored head. Aroma of sweet caramel malts, dried fruits, alcohol. Flavor is sweet caramel, molasses, brown sugar, vanilla, raisins, alcohol. Palate is full bodied, mildly carbonated, sticky, resinous, sweet, finished bitter. Excellent!

Murky, deep amber appearance with a small, tan head and little lacing. Hoppy, pine needle aroma up front followed by caramel malts and soft fruit. In a twist, the sweet, rich malts are in the forefront of the taste, with the hoppier, resinous, earthy, bitter flavors dominating the back tastebuds and the aftertaste. Everything meshes exceptionally well to produce a classy example of the style.

Hop nose with alcohol and hevay malt sweetness underneath. Layered appearance. Light, cloudy amber at the top that turns completely opaque and bloody towards the bottom. Thick, chewy, silky palate. Sweet flavor, some hops, balanced. Very drinkable BW.

Bottle. Nose is dominated by hops, but with some sweet malt presence. Smells dark and sticky. Pours a completelty opaque dark amber/copper with thin-patchy, yet beautiful lacing. The appearance is a dark red version of the most cloudy cider you’ve ever met. Smooth and seriously chewy palate. Taste is classic barleywine sweet/alcohol. Some smoke flavor, but mostly sweet.

1 pint 6 fl. oz. bottle. Deep red colour and clear. Small beige head. Pungent rich aromas. Intense malty flavours and a huge hop aroma. Nicely balanced. Rich raisiny flavours. Hops are quite prominent without going overboard. Aroma-wise the is one of the more intense beers I’ve tried. Not too strong, but it gives a warming sensation.