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Old Ruffian | Great Divide Brewing Company
Brewed by:
Great Divide Brewing Company
Colorado, United States
greatdivide.com
Style: American Barleywine
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 10.20%
Availability: Year-round
Notes / Commercial Description:
Old Ruffian is a hefty, hop-forward barley wine. Seemingly mellow at the start with subtle fruit aromas and complex caramel sweetness, it quickly becomes aggressive with its bold hop flavors and huge hop bitterness. Ultimately, the big body, succulent sweetness and massive hop character come together to work wonders on your palate.
HISTOGRAM
View: Beers | Place Reviews
Ratings: 2,494 | Reviews: 1,120
4.1/5 rDev -2.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured from a 12oz bottle dated Jan 2016 bought in 2019. This was a well aged bottle ! And it aged well.
A great sipping beer with a sweet start and a big bitter hoppy finish. The high alcohol level is well hidden.
218 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured from a 12oz bottle dated Jan 2016 bought in 2019. This was a well aged bottle ! And it aged well.
A great sipping beer with a sweet start and a big bitter hoppy finish. The high alcohol level is well hidden.
218 characters
4.15/5 rDev -1.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.5
Crystal clear caramel ale, topped with a cream-colored, firm head. Good production, and excellent retention. An absolutely beautiful ale.
Nose is fairly subdued, but you can certainly discern the hop presence.
On the palate, this brew is impressively bitter, with waves of pine, caramel, resin, earth, pepper, and a touch of citrus. This is exactly what an American Barleywine is supposed to represent: hoppy caramel malt soup at it's best.
442 characters
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.5
Crystal clear caramel ale, topped with a cream-colored, firm head. Good production, and excellent retention. An absolutely beautiful ale.
Nose is fairly subdued, but you can certainly discern the hop presence.
On the palate, this brew is impressively bitter, with waves of pine, caramel, resin, earth, pepper, and a touch of citrus. This is exactly what an American Barleywine is supposed to represent: hoppy caramel malt soup at it's best.
442 characters
4.15/5 rDev -1.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25
4.29/5 rDev +2.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Look: It pours medium brown with reddish hues. The head is light brown. Head retention is excellent.
Smell: Strong malty notes the feature caramel and toffee. It also has some raisin and bready background notes.
Taste: It has a strong malty flavor highlighted by caramel and toffee. There are some orange and citrus elements supporting the malt presentation. There are also some floral elements. Alcohol is noticeable, but very smooth.
Feel: It is full bodied with a bittersweet finish. Alcohol warming is very pleasant and smooth.
Overall, this is a good balance between the malt and the hops with the malt being a little more forward.
644 characters
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Look: It pours medium brown with reddish hues. The head is light brown. Head retention is excellent.
Smell: Strong malty notes the feature caramel and toffee. It also has some raisin and bready background notes.
Taste: It has a strong malty flavor highlighted by caramel and toffee. There are some orange and citrus elements supporting the malt presentation. There are also some floral elements. Alcohol is noticeable, but very smooth.
Feel: It is full bodied with a bittersweet finish. Alcohol warming is very pleasant and smooth.
Overall, this is a good balance between the malt and the hops with the malt being a little more forward.
644 characters
4.29/5 rDev +2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
4.36/5 rDev +3.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
Pours a cloudy dark copper color. Smell is caramel, vanilla, raisin. Taste is hops, malt, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, plum, raisin. Slight fruit. Says it was bottled on January 29, 2015. Ages well.
201 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
Pours a cloudy dark copper color. Smell is caramel, vanilla, raisin. Taste is hops, malt, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, plum, raisin. Slight fruit. Says it was bottled on January 29, 2015. Ages well.
201 characters
4.21/5 rDev +0.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.18/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
1.91/5 rDev -54.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 1.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 1.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 1.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 1.5
3.75/5 rDev -10.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
4.3/5 rDev +2.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
3.69/5 rDev -12.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.43/5 rDev -18.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
5/5 rDev +19%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
Drinking on a 2 year old bottle that is maintaining a perfect head in my tulip glass. Perfect hoppiness. Best beer in the 10 ABV range I've had.
145 characters
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
Drinking on a 2 year old bottle that is maintaining a perfect head in my tulip glass. Perfect hoppiness. Best beer in the 10 ABV range I've had.
145 characters
4.17/5 rDev -0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
12oz bottled 2/1/16 (2 years ago today) poured into a snifter at fridge temp 10.2% ABV. The beer pours medium brown in color with orange & red highlights. The head is mocha colored and offers some lacing and a nice residual cap. The aroma is burnt sugar, a last bit of fading piney hops and rich malt. The taste is more burnt sugar, with substantial hop bitterness, that mellows into piney, malty heat on the finish. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, adequately carbonated and mostly dry. Overall, very good American barleywine. I prefer the more subtle English style but this is very nice at this age. It was purchased warm 5 months ago, so it's treatment could have been better.
683 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
12oz bottled 2/1/16 (2 years ago today) poured into a snifter at fridge temp 10.2% ABV. The beer pours medium brown in color with orange & red highlights. The head is mocha colored and offers some lacing and a nice residual cap. The aroma is burnt sugar, a last bit of fading piney hops and rich malt. The taste is more burnt sugar, with substantial hop bitterness, that mellows into piney, malty heat on the finish. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, adequately carbonated and mostly dry. Overall, very good American barleywine. I prefer the more subtle English style but this is very nice at this age. It was purchased warm 5 months ago, so it's treatment could have been better.
683 characters
3.86/5 rDev -8.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
3.5/5 rDev -16.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
4.34/5 rDev +3.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Old Ruffian from Great Divide Brewing Company
Beer rating:
4.2 out of
5 with
2,494 ratings
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