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Great Divide Barrel Aged Old Ruffian 3.91 89

Great Divide Barrel Aged Old Ruffian

Percentile
99
overall

bottled
available

on tap
unknown

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RatingsAverageScoreSeasonalABVStyle PctlServe in
893.99/5.03.91/5.0Special12.7%93.5Snifter
Commercial Description:
Barrel Aged Old Ruffian Barley Wine was aged for 20 months in Stranahan’s barrels. As it does for Yeti, the aging process mellows Old Ruffian’s edge while adding gentle notes of oak, whiskey and vanilla to the 12.7% ABV and 85 IBUs beer. (The original Old Ruffian won a Gold medal at the 2006 Great American Beer Festival and a Silver medal at the 2007 GABF.)

“Our intent,” says Great Divide founder Brian Dunn, “was to age each beer in the barrels for 9 months. But we got busy with other projects, primarily the addition of a new bottling line, and the beers ended up aging for more than a year and half.” While the labels on the bottles state that the beers were aged 9 months in barrels, both beers were in fact aged 20 months in barrels.

Release limited to 470 bottles.
 Most Recent Top Raters Highest Ratings Who's Rated This?  
 ilovedarkbeer (1367), Dallas, Texas, USA
4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/104/516/20
Feb 16, 2009  
Bottle # 161/461 thanks to lumpy. Nice pretty deep amber reddish color with a ring of canvas colored bubbles for a head. Nose is vanilla, boubon, caramel, and some citrus. Taste is the same with a thick long finish. Solid beer but extended barrel time is better for the yeti.


 BMan1113VR (2931), Los Angeles (and Dallas), Texas, USA
4.1 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/104/58/104/516/20
Feb 13, 2009  
Bottle # 161/461 thanks to Lumpy. Pours with a small, off-white head that fades over the amber body. Great lacing. Aroma has a ton of bourbon, caramel and chocolate, cocoa butter, oak and vanilla. Taste is caramel, oak, toffee and a bit of char on the finish. Tons of booze. Alcohol on the palate and a syrupy mouthfeel.


 Lumpy (1802), Carrollton, Texas, USA
4.1 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/105/57/104/517/20
Feb 13, 2009  
Bottle #161. Body-very dark red with a Body-Hazy dark yellow/light orange/urine color with a razor thin ring of bubbles. Nose-almost RIS smelling, raisin, meat tenderizer, oak. Taste-medium to high bitter, light sweet bourbon, caramelization from the wood, lightly boozy, cereal, oatmeal, lightly sticky thick mouthfeel, twigs, age has taken the edge off of the hops, maple, wood is good, light Fig Newton.


 Swalden28 (1514), McKinney, Texas, USA
3.7 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/103/57/104/516/20
Feb 13, 2009  
Bottle thanks to Lumpy. Pours a deep murky brown with red hues. Aroma of malt, wood, bourbon, dark fruit. Flavor is sweet, dark fruit, bourbon, wood. Mouthfeel is heavy body, low carbonation. Overall, lots of wood presence, good stuff!


 mar (1937), Dallas, Texas, USA
3.9 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/104/57/104/517/20
Feb 13, 2009    Updated: Feb 14, 2009
bottle 161/461 thanks to lumpy. deep brown pour with no head. nose of bourbon, vanilla and toffee. nice on the palate with a smooth somewhat boozy bourbon vanilla finish. some hops were detectable but not much.


 fiver29 (726), Cleveland, Ohio, USA
2.7 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
5/104/55/103/510/20
Feb 8, 2009  
Bottle shared by miketd. Thanks Mike! Pours dark brown with tan head. Aroma is straight whisky with some sweetness in there somewhere. Flavor is straight booze. Too much in fact. Undrinkable for the most part.


 miketd (685), Cleveland, Ohio, USA
2.6 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/103/55/102/510/20
Feb 8, 2009  
Bottle from BlackForestCO. Thanks man. Pour is dark brown, beige head. Aroma of wood and booze...much like the Yeti. Flavor is all boozy sweet. Not a good beer.


 fonefan (11866), VestJylland, Denmark
4.1 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/103/59/104/517/20
Feb 1, 2009  
Bottle 50cl.
[ Courtesy of Ambassador ]. Clear medium amber brown color with a average, frothy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is heavy malty, caramel, fruit - berry, cranberry, cask wood, vanilla, moderate alcohol - whisky. Flavor is heavy sweet and moderate bitter with a long duration. Body is medium to full, texture is oily - syrupy, carbonation is soft. [20081030]



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