Great Divide Old Ruffian

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

22 oz bottle pours burnt orange red amber with a large and sustaining head that seems to also contain the color of the beer below. It looks great. The aroma is grapefruit, caramel, white pepper, and peach. The flavor is seriously hoppy, with lots of caramel, into a long and lingering fruit, hop, and pepper finish. The pepper flavor does not come off as overly obvious alcohol, but rather like a spice addition. The palate is rich and chewy. Overall this is one fine Barley Wine.

bomber. Dark mahogoney pour. Medium-full bodied. Quite fruity with cherries and some others I can’t place. It was intensely hopped as I had hoped (the description on the bottle really drew me to it as I am a huge hop-head), but doesn’t finish as bitter as I thought it would. Very good.

Believed to be a bottle from 2006. Appearance: Pours a clear, rich-looking, ruby-hued body with a brief, foamy, off-white head. Smell: Earthy malt profile hits the nose first, followed by a scent of concentrated plum juice. Next up are notes of oven-cooked grains, pine, and brown sugar. Taste: Caramel maltiness with a taste of brown sugar and a full hit of sweetness. Then fruits, again plums, but that soon transitions to a taste of pine resin that brings with it a wave of hop bitterness. Pinch of cooked spices. Warming, bittersweet finish. Mouthfeel: Medium-full body. Medium carbonation. Drinkability: It’s still a hop-forward barleywine, even after some time away in the cellar. If that’s your bag, then by all means give this one a go.

Aroma: lovely soapy, flowery, herbal... figs. Hoppy, honeylike sweetness without honey-floweriness.
Flavour: big, malty, chocolate, great-hopbitterness, vinous & full-bodied... fruity rowanlike sourishness in the aftertaste.
Palate: silky smooth, low carbonation, oily & fluffy. Near 5.
Appearance: clear, full copper hue w/ yellow great head (concentrated yellow/saffron) - creamy & frothy leaving heavy lacings.

*did not buy would not buy* aroma: smells like a dipa. no real malt nose. hmm.. lets just assume they ment to call it a hop wine. idiots. pepper sweet candy malts. cheap booze aroma. app: magical amazing garnet color. with brown overtones. flavor: ha.. kinda tastes like an old stock ale. there are lots more malts in the mouth than the smell would lead one to think. .. kinda the opposite of the comercial description. the hops are not very flavorful just peppery and spicy acidic. the malts are warm but a bit cheap. the booze is a bit harsh chemicaly. this is not bad just not good. better than i thought it would be from the smell. palate: fine but s bit flat. OA: eh. you may take it but i could leave it.

Deep amber in color with a reddish hue......thick white head. Balanced aroma that’s not overwhelming. Very complex hop flavors up front, with an extremely smooth mouthfeel for a barley wine. Finishes with a sweet malt back and a lengthy bitter aftertaste.

Reddish amber hazy pour with a thin off white head. Aroma is plum and raisin with a strong caramel malt background. Caramel malts way in big on the flavor, very rich. I catch some of the citrus from the hops but with about a year under its belt this bottle is getting a bit mellow. The dry fruits round it out. Finishes slightly bitter, smooth, no hint of the abv.

Pours a deep red color with just a hint of a light tan head. It fades fast. Aroma is sweet and malty with a touch of something grassy and citrusy in there as well. The taste starts out kinda like it smells, but the piney-hop flavor quickly destroys any trace of maltiness. The finish is dry and bitter and it LASTS. All in all ,probably a good example of this style from Great Divide, but it’s a bit too hoppy for me to drink often.