Great Divide Old Ruffian

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

Serve in Snifter

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Bottle. Clear medium amber red color with a large frothy good lacing mostly lasting beige head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, caramel, nutty, moderate to heavy hoppy, pine, alcoholic. Initial flavor is moderate sweet and bitter, finish flavor is moderate sweet and moderate to heavy bitter with a long duration. Body is medium to full, texture is oily / syrupy, carbonation is soft, finish feel is light alcoholic.

A slightly hazy deep red beer with a huge orange-red head. The aroma is primarily hoppy, but also with notes of malt, grass, caramel, and alcohol - a very fresh nose for such a potent beer. The flavor is a lovely complex combination of malt, toffee, alcohol, hops, wood, nutmeg, pineneedles, and more, but slowly the hops gain the advantage to give it a stronger accent on the pineneedles combined with grapefruit. The end is strong and slightly sticky, where the alcohol is more felt than tasted, and the hoppy notes lingers for a long time.

UPDATED: MAY 29, 2005 (Bottle 65 cl) Clear, deep amber with a small beige head. Sweetish, malty nose and sweetness in the first sip. But then you’re immediately hit by the hammer of hops - an absolutely wild and extreme hoppiness making you pretty much suffocate. Plain and simple. 90 IBUs is extreme by any standard, and admittedly too extreme for me. But a great experience nevertheless. 210505

UPDATED: AUG 30, 2008 RB US #900: From tap at Plan B. Pours clear and hazzlenut golden brown with a creamy light tan head. Solid hoppy and mild caramel malty aroma. Dense and towards liqourice spiced and hoppy finish. Sweet and dense caramel malty with a solid hops flavour and distinct bitterness into the finish. Dry and dense malty and fruity lingering into the far finish. Slight wooden too.

Bottled. Nut brown/amber colour. Aroma is alcohol, plum, spices and a lot of fruit. Flavour is spices, plum, raisins and candy sugar. Almost like a mediumsweet Madeira wine.

Bottled. Ruby, beige head. Rich grapefruity hop aroma. Plenty of sweet malt with notes of toffee. Concentrated thick mouthfeel, yet overpowered by vast hoppiness. Incredibly bitter finish.

Bottled at DBF 2005. Cloudy brown coloured with a lasting off white head. Sweet aroma with lots of malts, hops and dried fruits. Flavour of hops with lots of sweetness and dried fruits. Nice.

Bottle. Very malty aroma, some hoppiness. Unclear dark brown colour, small head. Strong peppery flavour with much aromatic and bitter hoppiness. Slightly astringent aftertaste. Good body, slightly syrupy mouthfeel.

UPDATED: JUN 20, 2010 2010-04-22, bottle a couple of years old, 8-5-9-5-18=45
It pours a dark red-amber color, with small creamy head. Very nice aroma of chocolate and cereals, light vanilla. Full bodied, with a round mouthfeel; strong malt flavor, sweet, smooth, with pleasant chocolate, vanilla, caramel, eggnogg. The bitterness is still strong, maybe the hop is less aromatic, but it blends well with the robust maltiness and the alcohol touch. Excellent.

2008-08-08, draught at Plan B, Copenhagen, 8-4-8-5-17=42
Hazy dark amber color, thin creamy head. Very nice aroma of fudge. Strong mouthfeel, syrupy malt caramel and toffee, with strong bitterness, a bit nutty too. Powerful final, full of toffee, sweet and bitter, hop oils. Excellent.

2005-05-21, bottle, 9-5-9-5-19=47
Dark amber color. As it happened only few other times, here you have a soooo powerful brew: chewy malts mixed with huge amounts of resiny hops, leaning to pine needles, with some caramel, chocolate. Extreme masochist pleasure.

UPDATED: JAN 17, 2009
Date: March 18, 2005
Mode: Bottle
Source: Green’s, Atlanta
Appearance: hazy dark amber, small white head
Aroma: rich malty aroma with plenty of earthy hops
Flavor: big sweet carmel malt flavor with lots of hops to balance, lots of bitterness in the finish, hint of fruity character over shadowed by the hops
Overall: may get better in two years, lacking any distinctive character, somewhat mild, but mellows nicely, decidedily undecided

Date: January 06, 2007
Mode: bottle
Source: blind tasting
Score: 3.2 to 3.7
Appearance: muddy amber, creamy white head with frothy edges
Aroma: big sweet caramel malt aroma with earthy bitterness
Body: creamy body
Flavor: lots of earthy hop flavor, good caramel character, nice fruity sweetness
Overall: well balanced all around

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 8/10; Overall: 15/20
Rating: 3.7/5.0
Score: **4