Old Ruffian Barley Wine | 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.
Added by gbontrag on 11-28-2004
View: Beers | Place Reviews | Events
Ratings: 2,459 | Reviews: 1,109
3.55/5 rDev -15.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.5
Look - Pours a hazy deep amber color with ruby along the edges, a thin cap of off white foam, no lacing.
Aroma - Hop forward, pine needle, resinous, cherry, light alcohol.
Taste - Candied fruit up front, cherry and sweet raisin, hops come in with huge bitterness, leafy and pine hop notes, the finish is sugary, bitter and has notes of caramel.
Feel - Sticky at first, fine carbonation quickly dries things out, creamy on the finish, alcohol has little warmth.
Overall - A very in your face barley wine. Tastes like an imperial IPA crossed with a barley wine at times.
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look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.5
Look - Pours a hazy deep amber color with ruby along the edges, a thin cap of off white foam, no lacing.
Aroma - Hop forward, pine needle, resinous, cherry, light alcohol.
Taste - Candied fruit up front, cherry and sweet raisin, hops come in with huge bitterness, leafy and pine hop notes, the finish is sugary, bitter and has notes of caramel.
Feel - Sticky at first, fine carbonation quickly dries things out, creamy on the finish, alcohol has little warmth.
Overall - A very in your face barley wine. Tastes like an imperial IPA crossed with a barley wine at times.
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4.25/5 rDev +1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
3.45/5 rDev -18.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
Medium wood tan color, silk lacing. Aroma has some dry grain, wood and hop. Chewy caramel malt, leather, but ends with a big hop bite. Just a tad too much for my liking. Otherwise solid.
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look: 4.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
Medium wood tan color, silk lacing. Aroma has some dry grain, wood and hop. Chewy caramel malt, leather, but ends with a big hop bite. Just a tad too much for my liking. Otherwise solid.
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4.25/5 rDev +1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.75/5 rDev +12.8%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
4.09/5 rDev -2.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Been meaning to try this ever since they put it in 12 oz bottles still paid the premium at almost 4 bucks a single. Pours a very hazy amber brown with a 1/4 inch of opaque colored head that settles to a very smooth ring. Smell is excellent very malty with some brown sugar and toffee rounded with some dark fruits and some herbal hops twang. No ethanol in the nose. Taste is a bit more hoppier than I expected with some herbal cone bitterness in the front and finish. Some caramel and fig flavors but this is a bitter aggressive ale through and through that uses it to cover the ABV nicely. Drinks medium to heavy still more of a sipper but still an enjoyable ale.
Overall a Barleywine for hop heads this ale is good and I would like to try it again with age since Hibernation ale with 2-3 years on it is subline and that beer is full of hop cone!
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look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Been meaning to try this ever since they put it in 12 oz bottles still paid the premium at almost 4 bucks a single. Pours a very hazy amber brown with a 1/4 inch of opaque colored head that settles to a very smooth ring. Smell is excellent very malty with some brown sugar and toffee rounded with some dark fruits and some herbal hops twang. No ethanol in the nose. Taste is a bit more hoppier than I expected with some herbal cone bitterness in the front and finish. Some caramel and fig flavors but this is a bitter aggressive ale through and through that uses it to cover the ABV nicely. Drinks medium to heavy still more of a sipper but still an enjoyable ale.
Overall a Barleywine for hop heads this ale is good and I would like to try it again with age since Hibernation ale with 2-3 years on it is subline and that beer is full of hop cone!
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4.76/5 rDev +13.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75
Excellent barley wine. I love hops, but its not hop-forward, and the hoppiness of this one sneaks up on me. It starts kind of sweet and mellow, and then the alcohol content, complex but full flavor, and hop content start kicking in. I think it pours better into a mug than a pint bottle. Well-named beer and totally enjoyable from first to last taste. One is not enough, three is too many.
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look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75
Excellent barley wine. I love hops, but its not hop-forward, and the hoppiness of this one sneaks up on me. It starts kind of sweet and mellow, and then the alcohol content, complex but full flavor, and hop content start kicking in. I think it pours better into a mug than a pint bottle. Well-named beer and totally enjoyable from first to last taste. One is not enough, three is too many.
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4.33/5 rDev +2.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
3.5/5 rDev -16.9%
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
4.08/5 rDev -3.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Pours a murky rustic bronze color with a finger of khaki head on top. Lacing is strewn about tightly at the start of the glass, but disappears as the beer warms. Aroma is features barleywine-esque notes of raisins, fig, and caramel with an underlying hop profile that contorts the aroma and gives it a distinct American fingerprint. Hop notes include herbal and resin. Flavor profile opens with a smooth, sugary sweet induction of raisins, fig, and caramel before the hops take precedence in form of herbal and resin notes. The resin hop notes stick all the way to the toffee finish. Together the resin and toffee form a sort of bittersweet ending. Mouth feel has a medium thickness with a filling, sort of grainy texture. Overall, while certainly a barleywine style with all its malty goodness, the hop presence could make this a little polarizing for some. It keeps each sip interesting as the malts and hops work to reverse the work of each other.
Served in a 12oz snifter.
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look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Pours a murky rustic bronze color with a finger of khaki head on top. Lacing is strewn about tightly at the start of the glass, but disappears as the beer warms. Aroma is features barleywine-esque notes of raisins, fig, and caramel with an underlying hop profile that contorts the aroma and gives it a distinct American fingerprint. Hop notes include herbal and resin. Flavor profile opens with a smooth, sugary sweet induction of raisins, fig, and caramel before the hops take precedence in form of herbal and resin notes. The resin hop notes stick all the way to the toffee finish. Together the resin and toffee form a sort of bittersweet ending. Mouth feel has a medium thickness with a filling, sort of grainy texture. Overall, while certainly a barleywine style with all its malty goodness, the hop presence could make this a little polarizing for some. It keeps each sip interesting as the malts and hops work to reverse the work of each other.
Served in a 12oz snifter.
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4.25/5 rDev +1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
3.25/5 rDev -22.8%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
4.23/5 rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
This beer pours a brownish ruby with an average head. The aroma is rich with pine and resin, brown sugar, nougat, and almonds. The flavor offers up loads of pine and resin, with caramel and brown sugar, and a huge dose of bitterness, with a finish of bitter citrus pith and chocolate. The mouthfeel is fairly thick and rich. Overall this is a superb beer - so rich in malt, yet so bitter and piney as well. A really great beer for my tastes.
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look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
This beer pours a brownish ruby with an average head. The aroma is rich with pine and resin, brown sugar, nougat, and almonds. The flavor offers up loads of pine and resin, with caramel and brown sugar, and a huge dose of bitterness, with a finish of bitter citrus pith and chocolate. The mouthfeel is fairly thick and rich. Overall this is a superb beer - so rich in malt, yet so bitter and piney as well. A really great beer for my tastes.
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3.85/5 rDev -8.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
4.5/5 rDev +6.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.85/5 rDev +15.2%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
4.07/5 rDev -3.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
I've enjoyed several bottles over the years, though this one happens to be from December 2012. While Old Ruffian is known to age well, I'm trying to rate more according to how I would score a bottle around a year old, more like what someone is likely to encounter in the shop. For the record, I would recommend drinking around 2-3 years of age; at just over 4 years old, this bottle is starting to show more signs of oxidation that push around the smoothed-out hop character.
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look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
I've enjoyed several bottles over the years, though this one happens to be from December 2012. While Old Ruffian is known to age well, I'm trying to rate more according to how I would score a bottle around a year old, more like what someone is likely to encounter in the shop. For the record, I would recommend drinking around 2-3 years of age; at just over 4 years old, this bottle is starting to show more signs of oxidation that push around the smoothed-out hop character.
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Old Ruffian Barley Wine from Great Divide Brewing Company
4.21
out of 5
based on 2,459 ratings.
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
The appearance was an dark amber to light brown color with a one finger white foamy head that dissipated within less than a minute. A light film of lacing spider webs into the beer. The smell holds a nice bittersweet combination of sweet citrus hops running into a sticky yet somewhat toasty caramel malts. Light tropical fruits also display themselves delicately. The taste was bittersweet, taking the sweet citrus hops and running them into the toasted caramel malts. A sweet sticky citrus to malty aftertaste leads into a sticky finish. On the palate, this one sat about a medium on the body with a decent sipping quality about it. The carbonation seemed good for the style and for me. The bitterness is about a medium. Overall, what a wonderful American barleywine. Everything fits right, I would definitely have this again.
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