Great Divide Old Ruffian

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

Serve in Snifter

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UPDATED: MAR 18, 2005 Aroma is quite juicy with a largely present display of caramel all the while a leafy woodish hoppyness fully escapes, persists, and evolves, over and beyond the caramels’ capabilities. Mirroring a Stone Old Guardian and Double Bastard-type nose with just a bit less malt but still has all the hops. Quite....nice...Hints of grapefruit and tangerine zip and pop to the surface as it warms along with some peculiar tin-ish notes. Husky hazen, darkened burnt orange edges with a rusty brown centering color and one immensely bubbled and compactly built inch high head of softly foamed dark ivory. It sits and sits and sits before finally subsiding to a thickly set skim of milky ivory froth and big bubbled peaks. Lacing coats the glass much like a fine morning frost. Taste is a hop laden twisted treat of sweet pine, parching grapefruit in the middle, caramel drenched biscuits balance out a fair portion of its body along the way, yet leafy/woody and dry in all parts, finishing strong with scorched bits of pineapple and tangerine. Somehow always dry, leafy, and resin coated; powdery and charred cedar is left on the lips. A majorly charred/roasted sense caps off the end with a bit of hopified pulpy heat mixing with a smoldering hop spice of cinnamon, vanilla bean, wood, and roastafied malts. Great hop profile here with leafy wood, scorched fruits, drying stuff, parching stuff, roasty stuff, and an evenly leveled bitterness that seems to never end! What a "Ruffian" of a hop ride this stuff is, wow! Feel is quite hoppy and thick, above a medium body that builds as it sits with a bit more smoothness then you’d think, yet trys very hard to conquer over the dry, charring woody hops, but never quite makes it there. Oh it trys and trys and trys, but those hops dominate with a mighty heavy-handedness. The hops are nearly overbearing as far as its overall consumption is concerned, yet calls to those who conjure up the Hop Gods to satisfy a quick urge. This is no quick urge though, the 22oz bomber stares at you, daring you to continue to empty its contents ’til you no longer can tell time. Mercy me this is historic hop potion.

Bottle. The pour was a clear dark mahogany red with a large (2-3 finger) light tan pillowy head that was mostly lasting, receding down to a large puddle and collar with excellent sheeting of lace. The aroma was of a sweet toasted biscuit malt, pine hops and a sweet doughy yeast with notes of toffee, citrus (grapefruit), caramel and some dark fruit (plums and raisons). The taste was sweet and rather malty with hints of toffee and dark fruit at first and then became slightly hoppy with a really nice bitter citrus note and a decent alcohol warming sensation at the end. The flavor hung around for a long while with a bitter sweet citrus flavor left to lie on the taste buds. Mouthfeel was just below medium in body with a dry oily texture and a prickly carbonation. Overall a sensationally tasting Barleywine with just the right blending of sweet malts and bitter hops...

Intense caramel and pine aromas, very bitter and hoppy but with enough caramel sweetness for balance. Very intense flavor and a long bitter finish. Very good, in small amounts.

dark reddish brown mahogany pour with a medium sized beige head... intense caramel and fruit aromas... at first touch of the tongue the malty caramel sweetness is huge! as it trickles down the sweetness slowly subsides and the citrus and some earthiness from the hops begin to kick in... at this point, got a nice coating throughout the mouth and at the last moment tons of bitterness jumps through, not necessarily overtaking the sweetness but def standing out at this point... until the next sip!

Hazy orange pour. Almost a brown sewer color in there. Small head. Aroma of sweet tropical fruit. Palate is medium bodied. Taste is pretty hoppy. There is a weird bitterness to it though. Almost cheese like.

22 ounce bottle into snifter, no bottle dating(but presumed to be Dec 2009 bottling). Pours fairly hazy brick red color with a nice 1 finger dense khaki head with great retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Some pretty nice lacing on the glass. Aromas of huge caramel, raisin, biscuit, toast, molasses, honey, pine, grapefruit, earth, herbal, toffee, and light spiciness. Fantastic and well balanced aromas with big complexity. Taste of huge caramel, raisin, molasses, toast, biscuit, herbal, grapefruit, earth, and light pine resin spiciness. Minimal bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of caramel, molasses, toast, raisin, biscuit, grapefruit, herbal, earth, and light spiciness on the finish for a while. Fantastic flavor balance and complexity; with no cloying sweetness at all. Medium carbonation and full bodied; with a nice creamy, slick, and thick mouthfeel. Quite smooth to sip on; with only an moderate alcohol warming present after the finish. Overall this is an absolutely fantastic barely wine with the age on it. The hoppy flavors smoothed out into perfect balance; with great complexity. Magnificent.

Bottled on Dec 2011, pours a rusty amber color with a small white head, lacing all around the glass. Nose is slightly sweet and fruity, a slight funkiness smell too. Taste great! Sweet at first with a nice hop bitterness on the end. Great brew! I’d love to age a few of these!

Bottle. Clear rusty amber pour with a foamy beige head that lasts a little while. Sweet malty aroma with a big toffee overtone has subtle notes of coffee, pine, musk, chocolate and citrus. Flavour is just like the aroma: malt driven but with a strong hop presence, hints of bread, nuts, spice, flowers and roastiness. Full bodied but not oppressively so, with a slick mouthfeel, soft carbonation and a long bitter, slightly spicy finish. Very nice and very easy drinking given the abv and the style.

4 finger beige head that sinks to 3mm, red-amber head. Nose: Plum, raisins, malt and madeira. Aroma: Raisins, plum, resin, grapefruit-peel, madeira, grapes, spruce and alcohol-sting. A bit "raw" or rustic in a good way. Long, dry and bitter ending.

Very cloudy dark amber-orange pour with a little head. Amazing aroma of caramel malt, rye, and citrus hops. Taste is very sweet at first (maybe a little too much) then bitterness strikes it down. Smooth finish. A very good barleywine but not my favorite. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Weicher, alkohlisch getreidiger Beginn. Deutliche Holznoten, im Mittelteil hopfige, später deutlich bittere Noten. Süßlich alkoholische Pflaumenaromen. 13/10/11/11/8/11