Great Divide Old Ruffian

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

650 ml bottle mail ordered from liquidsolutions. Hazy brown with a foamy tan head. Aroma of fruit, caramel, sugar, and alcohol. Bright tangy somewhat creamy palate. Initiallly sweet caramel, citrus, and pine taste transitioning to a good bitter bite in the finish. The commercial description is pretty much right on, but they don’t emphasize enough that this beer is exceptionally well balanced. This is in the top tier of barley wines.

Truly a hoppy barley wine. Of the few I’ve had, this tastes more like an IPA or DIPA.

On tap at the brewery in Denver... didn’t get a great impression from this one. Aroma was incredibly lacking - mouthfeel was solid and the palate crushing hoppy finish lingered like a bad habit. Overall, pretty damn good - but nothing epic. Very cool brewery with a nice staff is worth noting.

Tasted 2007-06-02. The whole family was there to celebrate mine and my girlfriends birthdays. We served sushi as an appetizer, and my uncle made some jokes about the "green ketchup" as he called it (wasabi). It appears it burned his throat quite a bit. Later he asked for a beer. I asked what he wanted and he said that he likes hops. I’m not sure, but I don’t think he’d ever had a really hoppy beer before, because after one sip of an old ruffian, he said: "I need that green ketchup to wash down this beer!!!". He finished it though, and he may even have liked it! I liked it alot!

Aroma is resplendent with candied fruits, brown sugar, and hops. Hop finish seemed a bit "ruff" if you’ll pardon the pun. I may have had a newer bottle.

2006 bottle. Had this one awhile back and liked, but it was one of my first BWs. Reddish-plum-brown with a medium off-white head. Aroma is thick and hoppy with lots of grass, pine, and citrus mixing with some thick and sweet malty aromas. Flavor is abudantly hoppy with lots of caramel, dark bread, citrus, pine, darker fruits, alcohol, and some earthiness. Nice mouthfeel, but too hop-forward and too much alcohol taste to be a top notch barleywine. Will check back with some aged Ruffian later.

From a 22 oz bottle this poured a very colorful red to copper color with a big foamy head of the same color. Lacing was good as it settled so I could get my nose in there. Really big and complex nose, with piney hops coming up first, but followed by sweet malts, and raisins. Mouthfeel very rich and creamy and on the back of the tongue is almost slippery. Flavor is a little sweet,with distinct hop bitterness, flowers, pine, caramel, fruiits, and a touch of the alcohol. Long sweet bitter finish. Good barley wine, and am glad I found this one here on the East Coast because I don’t think I have seen it in California. Shows once again if you want to try new beers you have to either trade or travel.

Bomber in a blind tasting again Green Flash BW and Southern Tier Back Burner. This lost. Harsh, minerally aroma. Big booze. Light caramel. Pleasant, mellow taste, but a bit rough in the back. Lacking complexity, and very rough around the edges. Regardless, this would probably age quite well. It could definitely stand to round itself out a bit and lose the bite.